Israeli-Palestinian documentary wins Oscar, draws criticism from Israeli, Jewish figures

The Israeli-Palestinian documentary "No Other Land" won an Oscar at the Academy Awards on Sunday night. 

The film details the struggle of its creators, Basel Adra and Yuval Avraham, against the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) work to evict the residents of Masafer Yatta, a group of Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills. 

By focusing primarily on key moments in the lives of the creators, as well as people from the village, the film clearly presents the tragic and difficult daily routine of the villagers following the order to destroy the homes and structures they had erected over the previous few decades. 

Masafer Yatta is in Area C, which is under full Israeli military jurisdiction according to the Oslo Accords. The IDF, in the 1980s, stated that the villagers, mostly shepherds and farmers, had not established permanent residency in the area, because they had not established permanent structures, such as houses built out of stone, due to their nomadic lifestyle. However, the villagers argued they did have permanent structures, in the form of caves, both natural and man-made, along with small rock fences marking sheepfolds and territorial boundaries. 

The villagers took their case to the Israeli courts, but in 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the IDF has control over the land, giving the military authority to displace thousands of Palestinian families, many of whom had used the land seasonally for generations. The court supported its ruling using several historical records dating back to the Ottoman period which did not list any villages in the location. 

The writings of an Israeli anthropologist, Yaakov Havakook, published by the Ministry of Defense in 1985, were used to try to support the villagers’ case for having permanent structures. The court, after reading Havakook’s book “Life in the Caves of Mount Hebron,” ruled that Havakook himself admits "at the end of winter, the shepherd families return and abandon the caves, which were used during the grazing months, and move to their mother villages or to other, more promising grazing places.” 

The issue of the construction of housing units in Masafer Yatta and their destruction by the IDF has been a topic of debate in Israeli society for several decades. 

Basel Adra, who grew up in Masafer Yatta, and Yuval Avraham, from Beersheba, both referenced the ongoing conflict in their acceptance speeches at the Academy Awards. 

“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger,” said Abraham. “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.” 

Avraham also spoke of the conflict in Gaza, decrying the “atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed.” 

Avraham’s co-director, Palestinian Basel Adra, said he hopes for an end to “Israeli occupation.” 

“About two months ago I became a father, and my hope to my daughter: that she will not have to live the same life I am living now,” Adra said. “Always feeling settler violence, home demolitions and forceful displacement that my community, Masafer Yatta, is living and facing every day under the Israeli occupation.” 

Adra continued, asking the world to “take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” 

After the awards ceremony, right-wing Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar, slammed the film, claiming its purpose is to “distort Israel’s image in the world.” 

“The Oscar win for the film ‘No Other Land’ is a sad moment for the world of cinema – instead of presenting the complexity of our reality, the filmmakers chose to echo narratives that distort Israel’s image in the world,” Zohar wrote to 𝕏. 

The Chicago Jewish Alliance also criticized the directors for failing to mention Hamas, even when talking about the hostages. 

“The team behind No Other Land used their entire acceptance speech to vilify Israel and the United States, condemning the war in Gaza—without mentioning Hamas even once. Not a single word about Hamas’ decades of terror,” the organization wrote on 𝕏. 

The team behind No Other Land used their entire acceptance speech to vilify Israel and the United States, condemning the war in Gaza—without mentioning Hamas even once. Not a single word about Hamas’ decades of terror.

This isn’t just an omission; it’s deliberate. Ignoring Hamas… pic.twitter.com/nhBJ6vAJzM

— ChicagoJewishAlliance (@ChiJewishAllies) March 3, 2025

Last year’s Academy Awards ceremony also drew condemnation from Jewish groups after featuring speeches by actors or directors criticizing Israel over the Gaza War. During those award speeches, Jewish writer-director Jonathan Glazer prompted controversy when he blamed Israel for the conflict, saying, “Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza.”