FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2025
Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
CODEPINK Joins Entertainment Community in Demanding the Academy Speak Out Against the Targeted Assault of Hamdan Ballal
LOS ANGELES – CODEPINK LA, Entertainment Labor for Palestine, and Artists Against Apartheid, and DSA-LA will deliver a letter today, Monday, March 31st at 1pm at the Academy HQ in Beverly Hills to demand that the Academy speak out against the brutalization of Palestinian Oscar-winning director Hamdan Ballal.
This petition is part of the larger public backlash against Hollywood for not taking a decisive stance and outright condemning the brutal attack on Ballal that was motivated by his award-winning documentary, No Other Land. Ballal was attacked by Israeli settlers and arrested by Israeli occupation forces less than a month after winning the Oscar for Best Documentary.
“The Academy joins SAG-AFTRA, who make up a majority of its membership, in failing to stand up for the professions they claim to support. Why be so afraid of the truth, you can’t put out a statement that recounts the basic facts of what happened? Say his name. Say who assaulted him and who detained him. Stop providing cover for Israel’s war crimes.” - Miriam Arghandiwal, Entertainment Labor for Palestine
Initially the Academy tried to deny the attack could be linked to the success and worldwide acceptance of Ballal’s documentary. However, after receiving backlash, they issued another statement that was equally disgraceful. In the new statement, they seemingly “both-sided” an act of political violence. They refused to name Ballal as someone who was attacked, nor did they name who he was attacked by. Instead, they choose to note that the Academy “represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints.”
They have since issued an apology for not naming Ballal but have still refused to name Israel and illegal settlers as the perpetrators.
However, in 2011, the Academy had no problem with issuing a statement against the Iranian government’s jailing and punishment of Iranian filmmakers for their work in an acclaimed film.
“The brutal assault and jailing of a Palestinian man for exposing the truth is not a “unique viewpoint” - it is political violence that is sanctioned by Israel. It is shameful that the Academy cannot find the words to condemn a targeted act of state-sanctioned violence against a man they elevated to the highest level just weeks prior,” said Nour Jaghama, CODEPINK’s Palestine campaign organizer.
The silence from organizations like the Academy and the refusal to directly call out Israel’s actions gives Israel cover and allows it to continue the genocide in Gaza, the settler violence in the West Bank, and the decades-long illegal occupation of Palestine. The letter is demanding the Academy change course now by breaking the silence. The letter calls on them to outright condemn the attack on Hamdan Ballal and acknowledge the context of Israel’s occupation and the risk that Palestinian artists take just to tell the truth they experience every day.
For more information, please contact Jodie Evans at [email protected].
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