Academy apologizes after stars say it ‘failed to defend’ Palestinian filmmaker

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apologizes for failing to fully defend Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, who said he was attacked by settlers before he was detained by Israeli troops.

The group, which hosts and awards the Oscars each year, wrote to members after movie stars including Joaquin Phoenix, Penelope Cruz and Richard Gere had slammed its initially muted response to the incident.

The Academy “condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world” and its leaders “abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances,” says the letter, seen by AFP.

Ballal co-directed “No Other Land,” which won best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.

This week, he said he had been assaulted by settlers before he was detained at gunpoint by soldiers in the southern West Bank village of Susya.

Unlike multiple other prominent filmmaker groups, the US-based Academy initially did not issue a statement.

On Wednesday, it sent a letter to members that condemned “harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” without naming Ballal.

By yesterday morning, more than 600 Academy members had signed their own statement in response.

“It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March, and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later,” the members said.

“We stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank,” they wrote.

The Academy leadership’s response “fell far short of the sentiments this moment calls for,” said the members.

The Los Angeles-based group’s board convened an extraordinary meeting to confront the deepening crisis, according to trade outlet Deadline.

It issues an apology to Ballal “and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement.”

“We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr Ballal and the film by name,” it writes.

Palestinian reports and eyewitnesses said dozens of settlers attacked Susya on Monday, throwing stones at residents, cars and houses. According to the police, Palestinians responded by throwing stones back.

Footage from the village showed a masked individual throwing stones and attacking Palestinians, and hitting the car of activists who had come to assist the residents.

The Israel Defense Forces said the violence began “after a number of terrorists threw rocks toward Israeli citizens and struck their cars” near Susya.