Academy stays quiet on Israeli settler attack on Oscar winner out of respect for "unique viewpoints"
Los Angeles, California - After facing fierce backlash, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has explained its silence on the brutal Israeli settler attack on Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal – without naming the Palestinian filmmaker.
Yuval Abraham, who co-directed the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land with Ballal, shared a letter from Academy leaders Bill Kramer and Janet Yang alluding to their silence on the assault.
"We fundamentally believe that film has the power to enlighten global audiences and highlight different perspectives – and we courage our members to use their art to do so," the letter, sent via email to members of the Academy, said.
"The Academy condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints."
The letter never directly addressed the attack on Ballal but appeared to acknowledge the backlash to the Academy's silence, adding, "Understandably, we are often asked to speak on behalf of the Academy in response to social, political, and economic events.
"In these instances, it is important to note that the Academy represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints."
In the same X thread, Abraham drew attention to a snippet of the Academy's response to previous threats by the Iranian government against filmmakers and actors, where the threats were explicitly named and called out.
Ballal was released on Tuesday after being violently attacked by Israeli settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank. He was detained by Israeli police after "being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base."
The filmmaker revealed in an interview that he believes he was specifically targeted because of his recent Oscar win for No Other Land, which focuses on Israeli settler violence and the forced displacement of Palestinians.
Hamdan Ballal recalls life-threatening assault by Israeli settlers
"I felt that these were the last moments of my life, that I would lose it due to the severity of the beating," Ballal said in an interview with AFP.
He added that the "brutality" of the attack led him to believe it was motivated by his win at the Academy Awards, noting that he heard Israeli soldiers mention his name and the word "Oscar" while he was detained.
Abraham condemned the Academy's silence over the attack on his co-director in an X post shared Wednesday, writing, "We were told that because other Palestinians were beaten up in the settler attack, it could be considered unrelated to the film, so they felt no need to respond."
"In other words, while Hamdan was clearly targeted for making No Other Land (he recalled soldiers joking about the Oscar as they tortured him), he was also targeted for being Palestinian – like countless others every day who are disregarded.
"This, it seems, gave the Academy an excuse to remain silent when a filmmaker they honored, living under Israeli occupation, needed them the most."
Unlike its American counterpart, the Europen Film Academy quickly called on Israeli authorities to free Ballal "immediately and unconditionally".
Despite the reticence from the group's leaders, a significant number of US Academy members have spoken out, including actor Mark Ruffalo, who wrote via Instagram, "Every filmmaker and academy member should be acting together in protest."
"Hamden Ballal is a political prisoner and this is an international incident and violation of human rights," he continued.
Cover photo: HAZEM BADER / AFP