Israeli authorities released the Oscar-winning Palestinian director of the documentary who was detained overnight after he and his witnesses said it was an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Police said “Other Landless” filmmaker Hamdan Baral, one of the documentary's directors, was questioned along with two other Palestinians on suspicion of throwing stones, physical damage and “putting the safety of the area at risk.” All three have denied the charges, their lawyers said.
Details of the episode are not yet fully clear, with both sides providing conflicting accounts of the events surrounding Mr. Baral's detention. However, witnesses said the detention took place as a group of Israeli settlers – some of which were hidden – attacked on the outskirts of the village of Susiya, Balar's hometown, on the west coast of Israeli tribes.
After being released Tuesday, Baral, 37, said he was protecting the home during the attack and worried that the settlers would try to obsess over him. Suddenly, the man hit Mr. Baral in the head, he said, while two Israeli soldiers leveled his guns on him.
“I fell to the ground and the man beat me all over my body,” Baral said in a phone interview.
Israeli soldiers later arrested Mr. Baral and detained him overnight. Mr. Baral said he was blindfolded while the soldier placed another object on his head. “This is an Oscar-winning filmmaker,” he said.
The Israeli military did not respond to requests for comment on Baral's account.
Minor Israeli settlers were also detained. Israeli police said he was released for medical treatment and would be questioned later.
This episode turned its attention to the rising attacks by Israeli settlers on the Hardline against Palestinians in the West Bank. Over the past year, Jewish extremists have thrown rocks at Palestinians, burned cars and damaged homes. The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Cooperation recorded more than 1,000 incidents of settler violence in 2024.
Human rights groups have long said that Israeli officials rarely crack down on perpetrators. Despite a small number of well-known prosecutions, the majority of police investigations into Israeli attacks on Palestinians have been closed without charge, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
President Trump has taken a softer stance on settler violence and has cancelled sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on individuals accused of committing violence against Palestinians. On Tuesday, a Mike Huckabee confirmation hearing was ongoing with Trump's pick for Israeli ambassador and an outspoken supporter of the settlement building.
Both sides provided different explanations of the events surrounding Mr. Baral's arrest. In a statement, Israeli forces said “several terrorists” threw rocks at Israeli vehicles and ignited a violent conflict in which the Israelis and Palestinians threw rocks at each other.
Nassar Nawaja is a field worker for the Israeli human rights organization B'tselem and lives in Susya. Other Palestinians said the conflict began after town residents tried to drive away livestock on the land claimed by the village.
A group of masked Israeli raiders soon joined others on the outskirts of the village, where they said they attacked two Palestinian homes.
A video of the witnesses obtained and reviewed by the New York Times showed some of the attack. In footage of a mobile phone and dashcam, a masked man approaches three activists who answer a call from a Palestinian, seeking help, pushing them, and attempting to punch one of them. The three activists retreat to their car as several other masked men run towards it and crush the windshield with the rocks.
Another director of the documentary, Basel Adora, was also on the scene, but Israeli soldiers and police officers on the scene said they did little to stop the masked Israeli assailants even when they tried to spread the Palestinians. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the request.
Baral was among four directors of the Palestinian and Israeli film Collective, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary this month. The film documents the Israeli army's demolishing a West Bank resident's house in or near the village of Masafayatta, claiming the area of a live-action military training ground.
After enduring repeated attacks, Palestinian residents in the West Bank, including Hamdan's village, appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court at the end of 2023, claiming that Israeli security officials were not protecting them from the attack, resulting in some villagers having let their homes flee.
In last year's ruling, the court raised concern that Israel had not protected them, saying that governments, including Israeli forces, must protect Palestinians from future attacks “even in the complex circumstances of this era.”
Malachy Browne Reports of contributions.
