IDF detains Oscar-winning Palestinian film director accused of throwing stones at troops

The arrest of Hamdan Ballal – Oscar-winning co-director of the documentary "No Other Land" – by Israeli troops on Monday drew international controversy and outrage.

His Israeli co-director and activist, Yuval Abraham, alleged that Ballal was “lynched” by a group of “armed KKK-like masked settlers,” and then arrested from inside an ambulance by Israeli soldiers.

“No sign of him since,” Abraham wrote on 𝕏.

However, the Israel Defense Forces later published a statement that presented the incident in a different light.

The Israeli military stated that the incident on Monday evening began when “several terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles near Susya.”

בציוץ של יובל אברהם שזכה לעשרות אלפי תגובות ולייקים, מהתקרית בהר חברון, הושמט משום מה התיעוד הבא של עשרות פורעים פלשתינים שיידו אבנים לעבר נער, רועה צאן ישראלי.

בטוח שמדובר בטעות, לא? pic.twitter.com/9L2GgFAlO3

— חנן גרינווד (@hanan_green) March 24, 2025

“Following this, a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene. IDF and Israeli Police forces arrived to disperse the confrontation, and at this point, several terrorists began hurling rocks at the security forces,” the IDF said.

The accounts by Abraham and several other allies and friends of Ballal only begin at this point.

The IDF’s statement continued, “In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation. The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israel Police. An Israeli citizen was injured in the incident and was evacuated to receive medical treatment.”

“Contrary to claims, no Palestinian was apprehended from inside an ambulance,” the IDF concluded.

The group of armed KKK-like masked settlers that lynched No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal (still missing), caught here on camera. pic.twitter.com/kFGFxSEanY

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 24, 2025

Even before the army’s statement, Channel 12 cited police officials who said, “The event began with stone-throwing by dozens of Palestinians toward a Jewish minor.”

“As a result, additional Jews arrived at the scene, and a confrontation began between the sides, including mutual stone-throwing. As a result of the stone-throwing, a vehicle was damaged… Hamdan was indeed injured, bleeding from the nose, and is currently being interrogated at the police station,” the police official said.

Hanan Greenwood, Religious Affairs and Settlements Correspondent at Israel Hayom, added more details in several posts on 𝕏 and posted a video purportedly showing the initial Arab assault.

“Initial reports indicate that Arabs (apparently accompanied by left-wing activists) attacked an Israeli shepherd with stones near the village of Nawaja. The shepherd called the farm owner, but he was also stoned. Several other young Israelis arrived at the scene, and a stone-throwing exchange ensued between the parties, which escalated into a fight. Several Israelis were injured in the incident.”

“An Israeli shepherd was injured, taken for treatment, and then arrested… The filmmaker, left-wing activist Yuval Abraham, posted a message in English on Twitter in which he conveniently presented only the Palestinian side of the event,” wrote Greenwood.

Abraham also received support from radical left-wing Knesset Member Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta’al), who is currently serving a six-month suspension for expressing support for Palestinian terrorists and the South African accusation of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Cassif wrote on 𝕏 that Hamdan and the other detainees “are currently being questioned by the Hebron police, injured, on the claim that they threw stones and injured a settler.”

He added that Ballal was “attacked in his home as part of a large-scale pogrom,” and repeated the claim that he was “kidnapped directly out of the ambulance.”

“All attempts to receive official confirmation of his location, including personally by me (a member of Parliament) have failed. His whereabouts are still unknown and his life and liberty are in grave danger. Under the tyrannical occupation, even the Oscar can't protect you from harm,” Cassif wrote.

In a statement, Abraham alleged that “The violence tonight against my friend, Oscar-winner Hamdan Balal, is part of a long-standing campaign to expel the residents of Masafer Yatta.”

“Residents face a double assault: from the army, which demolishes their homes, and from settlers, who attack them with extreme violence backed by the army, as we saw tonight.”

The documentary “No Other Land” details the struggle of its creators, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, against the IDF’s efforts to evict the residents of Masafer Yatta, a group of Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills located in a military training area.

The region is in Area C, which is under full Israeli military jurisdiction according to the Oslo Accords. Starting in the 1980s, the IDF and Palestinian villages began a court dispute over the area. The army argues that the villagers, mostly shepherds and farmers, never established permanent residency in the area, which they used only seasonally.

The villagers argue they have permanent structures in the form of caves, both natural and man-made, along with small rock fences marking sheepfolds and territorial boundaries. In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled for the IDF, giving it the authority to displace thousands of Palestinians.

Osama Makhameera, a local activist, told the Guardian he believed Ballal was targeted specifically because of his role in the documentary, which had caused outrage in Israel. The film was not picked up by any traditional film distributors in the U.S.

In a Monday briefing, U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Tamara Bruce condemned the incident and said the U.S. would “look into the details,” adding it is “concerned about any loss of life or harm to individuals.”

“It is clear that we are deeply concerned about settler violence and want it to stop,” Bruce said. Her statement marked a so-far rare public criticism of the “settler violence” phenomenon by the Trump administration, after the Biden administration had excoriated Israel and even sanctioned settler organizations.