No Other Land director attacked in West Bank

Hamdan Ballal's whereabouts unknown

by Jennie Kermode

No Other Land
No Other Land

Hamdan Ballal, who co-directed Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land with Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra and Rachel Szor, has reportedly disappeared following an assault by a group of 10 to 20 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, where he lives. The incident occurred at around 6pm.

"A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co-director of our film No Other Land," tweeted Abraham, who is also a longstanding friend of the missing man. "They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called and took him. No sign of him since."

A video has emerged showing Ballal and two Jewish activists being attacked by a masked, stone-throwing mob and seeking refuge in a car, whose windscreen was subsequently broken. According to reports, he was blindfolded before being taken away. The Israeli military has said that it is investigating the incident.

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