The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued a formal apology Friday for failing to directly acknowledge Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, following his reported assault and detention by Israeli settlers and military forces earlier this week.
Ballal, who recently won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, was allegedly beaten on Monday by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Masafer Yatta and subsequently detained by Israeli soldiers. He was released the following day. Ballal and witnesses deny claims by Israeli authorities that he was throwing stones.
In its first public response on Wednesday, the Academy condemned the general suppression of artists but did not reference Ballal by name or mention the film. "The Academy condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints," wrote CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang in the message sent to the organization's 11,000 members.
The omission drew immediate criticism from Ballal's colleagues and hundreds of Academy members. "Sadly, the US Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, declined to publicly support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers," No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham posted on X. Abraham added that internal calls by Academy members, particularly from the documentary branch, for a direct statement were rejected.
By Friday, more than 600 members, including high-profile figures such as Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, and Emma Thompson, signed an open protest letter, stating that Kramer and Yang's initial response "fell far short of the sentiments this moment calls for."
Following a meeting of the Academy's Board of Governors, Kramer and Yang issued a revised statement that explicitly named Ballal and his film. "We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name," they wrote. "We sincerely apologize to Mr. Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world."
Ballal, speaking from a hospital in the West Bank following his release, told The Associated Press that his assault was targeted. "I realized they were attacking me specifically," Ballal said. "When they say 'Oscar,' you understand. When they say your name, you understand."
The controversy underscores the growing scrutiny on international institutions over how they respond to violence against Palestinian civilians and cultural figures. No Other Land, co-directed by an Israeli and a Palestinian team, documents life under Israeli military pressure in Masafer Yatta, where residents-mostly Arab Bedouins-face frequent demolition of homes and infrastructure. The area was designated as a live-fire military zone in the 1980s.
The documentary, which lacked U.S. distribution and was self-released in theaters, grossed over $2 million in North America and later received the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
