On Monday, I went to see the film, No Other Land. As I left the theater, I turned on the news and heard that the film’s creator, Hamdan Ballal, had been beaten and arrested during a protest. Palestinians reported that dozens of Jewish settlers attacked Hamdan and other “activists.” The IDF reported that Hamdan and other “terrorists” were throwing stones at security forces. Given the international attention garnered by the Oscar-winning film, it’s not surprising that Palestinian protests and settler violence are in the news. In addition to events in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, etc., this is a story we should better understand.
No Other Land is a documentary that tells the story of Palestinian villagers being displaced from the land on which they’ve lived for generations. The Israeli army decided that an area near Hebron needed to be cleared for live-fire military training. So, day after day, year after year, soldiers arrive with bulldozers to knock down Palestinian houses and schools and seal up wells. And night after night, the Palestinians rebuild. Day after day, the Palestinians protest. And day after day, the army breaks up these protests. Sometimes, Palestinians are arrested, shot, and killed.
As a film, I found it unimpressive. It was slow and repetitive; it left me frustrated and disappointed. There were so many places where I wished for more background and additional information. Why it won the Oscars, I surmise, has more to do with its post-October 7 timing, the bravery it took to make the film, and liberal Hollywood’s anti-Israel sentiment than its quality as a documentary. (Wait, I thought the Jews control Hollywood?!)
No Other Land is a superficial presentation of a complex topic. There are no interviews with government or military spokespeople or with historians. It does next to nothing to put the story into the larger context of the Arab-Israeli conflict or show Palestinians as anything other than victims. I understand that the film is not meant to be a regional or global history lesson rather the chronicle of one village. That in and of itself is a valuable way to tell a story. Unfortunately, most viewers will come away seeing only the Palestinian experience with little to no understanding of the Israeli perspective.
That is a serious shortcoming. Still, Israel supporters must deepen their understanding of the Palestinian experience. For that reason alone, it is an important story to learn. And I reject efforts like those of the mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., to limit the film’s availability. Such a tactic is bound to backfire only giving more people a desire to see it.
A better way to address the movie’s shortcomings is through compelling education and effective hasbara (PR). Maybe Israel supporters can produce a better Oscar-winning film. But the best, and truly only way to respond to the movie is for Israel to address its treatment of Palestinians.
Rather than spend the entire movie with my mind refuting this point or that point, I tried to really listen deeply and take in the story. Even knowing the broader historical context, there is no getting around the fact that as presented, the treatment of these Palestinian villagers is deeply disturbing.
To be clear, given Israel’s critical security needs, if the IDF needs an area for training, I am sympathetic. But the strong impression the film gives is that clearing space for army training is nothing but a pretext for forcibly removing Palestinians. Why? To seize land to make room for Jewish settlement? To humiliate and demoralize the Palestinians? To prevent Palestinians from protesting against and harassing settlers? The film doesn’t make a compelling argument for any of these explanations.
Most disturbing are the scenes in which masked, armed Jewish settlers attack and shoot Palestinians while the army stands by and watches. (Protestors at Columbia University cannot wear masks to hide their identity but Jewish settlers can?!). The settlers take the law into their own hands seemingly with the permission of the Israeli government. And the results are deadly. In Monday’s protests, several Palestinians were arrested, but no settlers were.
In the film, an unidentified Palestinian woman cries out during a protest, “There is no other land.” Sadly, the movie makes no attempt to acknowledge that the same is true for Jews, in the words of a well-known Hebrew song: “Ein Li Eretz Acheret / I Have No Other Land.” Even when true for Jews, the abuses documented in the film have no place in the Jewish State, let alone in a land we call holy.
