The director, who was beaten by Israeli settlers, is now free
The Ballal Controversy Indicator: Israeli Activists, Non-Israeli Defenders, and the Defense of a Palestinian Village
The details of the episode are still not entirely clear, and both sides provided conflicting accounts of the events surrounding Mr. Ballal’s detention. There are reports that a group of settlers carried out an attack on Mr. Ballal’s home village in the West Bank.
Masked settlers also attacked Jewish activists at the scene, according to video seen by NPR provided by the group Center for Jewish Nonviolence. The group says it was in the village to document and try to de-escalate attacks against Palestinians, which have been on the rise since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023. The attacks are often designed to scare Palestinians into leaving their land. Israeli security forces often turn a blind eye to settler violence.
Ballal was in Los Angeles a few weeks ago to accept the Academy Award for the movie that tells the story of the displacement of Palestinians by Israeli occupation.
In a ruling last year, the court expressed concern over Israel’s failure to protect them and said the government — including the Israeli military — must protect Palestinians against future attacks “even in the complicated circumstances of this period.”
Video clips obtained and reviewed by the New York Times showed parts of the assault. A masked man tries to punch one of the activists after approaching them who had responded to calls for help from Palestinians. The three activists retreat to their car as a group of masked men run towards it and bang on the car’s window.
The group of Israeli assailants, some masked, soon joined the others on the outskirts of the village, where they attacked two Palestinian homes, they said.
Nasser Nawaja, a fieldworker for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem who lives in Susya, and other Palestinians said the confrontation began after the town’s residents had sought to drive away Israeli shepherds herding livestock on land claimed by the village.
President Trump has taken a softer stance on settler violence, canceling sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against individuals accused of carrying out violent acts against Palestinians. The confirmation hearing for Mike Huckabee, Mr. Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel and an ardent supporter of settlements, began on Tuesday.
Human rights groups have long said that Israeli officials rarely crack down on the perpetrators. According to Yesh Din, a large majority of police investigations into attacks on Palestinians by Israelis are closed without charges.
A person who was also a minor was also taken into custody. The police in Israel said he had been released to receive medical treatment and would be questioned later.
The Israeli authorities on Tuesday released a Palestinian director of an Oscar-winning documentary who was detained overnight after what he and witnesses said was an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.