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Controversial Israeli-Palestinian Film ‘No Other Land’ Wins Best Documentary at Oscars
Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film for “No Other Land” during the Oscars show at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
An Israeli-Palestinian film that focuses on the demolition of a small community in the West Bank and is critical of Israel’s military actions won best documentary feature film at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday.
“No Other Land” chronicles Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the West Bank, and the struggles of Palestinians who confront Israeli armed forces over being evicted from the land so it can turn into a military training facility. The one-sided film depicts Israel as a violent land stealer that oppresses, displaces, and brings suffering to Palestinian families in Masafer Yatta, without explaining that the Palestinians illegally built homes on land that Israel had claimed for a military training zone in the 1980s.
“No Other Land” was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists including Basel Adra, a Palestinian who lives in Masafer Yatta with his family. He made “No Other Land” with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, Israeli cinematographer Rachel Szor, and Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian photographer and filmmaker. “‘No Other Land’ is an unflinching account of a community’s mass expulsion and acts as a creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice,” according to the film’s synopsis, which also accuses Israel of “occupation.”
Even though “No Other Land” ended filming in 2023, before the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the filmmakers criticized Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during their acceptance speeches at the Oscars.
Adra said the film “reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades.” He called on the international community “to take serious actions to stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleaning of Palestinian people.”
“About two months ago I became a father and my hope to my daughter that she would not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settler violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements that my community Masafer Yatta is living and facing every day on the Israeli occupation,” he told the audience.
Abraham briefly mentioned the hostages abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 — many of whom remain held captive in Gaza by the US-designated terrorist organization — before further criticizing Israel and accusing it of displaying “ethnic supremacy” in its treatment of Palestinians. He also attacked US foreign policy, claiming it hinders peace between Israel and Palestinians.
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other. The atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end. The Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of Oct. 7 which must be freed,” he said. “When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life, and he cannot control [it]. There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy with national rights for both of our people. And the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe. There is another way. It’s not too late for life, for the living.”
“No Other Land” has won several awards, including the prestigious Berlinale Documentary Award and Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film.
Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar said in a post on X that the film’s Oscar win on Sunday was “a sad moment for the world of cinema.”
“Instead of presenting the complexity of Israeli reality, the filmmakers chose to amplify narratives that distort Israel’s image vis-à-vis international audiences,” Zohar wrote. “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, especially in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre and the ongoing war.”
The post Controversial Israeli-Palestinian Film ‘No Other Land’ Wins Best Documentary at Oscars first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.