'No Other Land': Palestinian-Israeli film’s Oscar win sparks outrage in Israel
Israeli government officials, actors and the media industry have lashed out at Hollywood and the directors of the Israeli-Palestinian film No Other Land after it won the best documentary film award at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The film, co-directed by Palestinian journalist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, chronicles the Israeli army's attempts to expel the residents of the occupied West Bank area of Masafer Yatta - Adra’s hometown - from their land.
The film has received international critical acclaim for its documentation of Palestinian life under occupation and resistance to Israeli violence and attempts at displacement.
Various Israeli figures have accused the film and its creators of spreading false narratives, antisemitism and harming Israel's interests in the world.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar of the Likud Party said on Monday that the film’s win was “a sad moment for the world of cinema”, adding that the film “distorted” Israel’s image on the international stage.
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"Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art - it is sabotage against the State of Israel,” he continued on X, formerly Twitter.
Israel Bachar, Israel's consul general in Los Angeles, posted: "Israeli Jews have No Other Land", adding that Hollywood figures should watch "the real documentary" of footage from Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
Yoseph Haddad, a self-described Arab-Israeli activist, said that the winning speeches in Los Angeles were biased in favour of Palestinians.
"He [Abraham] deserves an Oscar for hypocrisy," he added.
"We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law, and Bassel is under military laws that destroy his life."
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The powerful Palestinian-Israeli documentary 'No Other Land' has won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
On stage, Palestinian journalist and director… pic.twitter.com/CfEZWqthkP
Others urged the Israeli government to take action by investing more in hasbara (propaganda).
Journalist Shai Golden said that the film's Oscar win was a "warning sign" for Israel about its "failure" to "present... the Israeli story in a convincing" manner.
"Part of the Israeli hasbara should be the use of the example of 'No Other Land,' that Israel, unlike its neighbours – led by the Palestinians – knows how to give expression to voices like Abraham's among us," he said in his column for right-wing newspaper Israel Hayom.
'Brainwashed by hatred'
Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Yuval Karni stated that he would not watch the documentary, and said its win stemmed from hatred of Israel.
"The two filmmakers – like large parts of the Hollywood kingdom and the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – are not really interested in the facts or the real story. Hatred of Israel is brainwashing them," he wrote.
This is only the third time in the history of the Academy Awards that Israeli filmmakers have been awarded a prize, but the film is not expected to be screened in Israeli cinemas.
As of now, it is only available to the Israeli public through the left-wing news website Local Call.
Despite this rare achievement for Israeli cinema, the film and its creators received angry reactions from within the Israeli cinema industry.
Actor Aki Avni, who has appeared in a number of Hollywood films in the past, wrote: "You hear and understand how the Holocaust began in 1933, how in the 'enlightened and aware' world, the picture is still reversed in the most distorted way."
Another Israeli actor, Yadin Gellman, accused Abraham of “selling out his people” for attention and praise.
This is not the first time that No Other Land has received angry reactions in Israel.
The film, which was shot over several years from 2019-2023, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival last year, where it won the Berlinale documentary award.
After winning the award in Berlin, the Israeli public broadcaster Kan defined Abraham's speech as "the antisemitic speech of the Israeli filmmaker". Afterwards, it was forced to apologise.
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