Israeli filmmaker rewarded in Berlin for documentary co-directed with a Palestinian receives threats in his country

Statements by the directors of “No Other Land” at the Berlinale, denouncing Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians, sparked controversy. Yuval Abraham’s speech is thus described as anti-Semitic.

The Israeli-Palestinian documentary No Other Land continues to cause controversy even in Israel. The film won the best documentary prize on Sunday February 25 at the Berlinale, the international film festival in the German capital. No Other Land focuses on Palestinian activist Basel Adra who, along with Israeli Yuval Abraham, documented the demolition of houses by Israel in his area, the South Hebron Hills of Masafar Yatta.

When he was awarded the prize for their film, Basel Adra, alongside Yuval Abraham, notably accused Israel of “massacre” the Palestinian population and criticized German arms sales to Israel. This position was applauded at the Berlinale, but also described as “shocking” by German politicians. And since this award and the directors’ speeches, threats have been raining down, particularly from an Israeli society which is not ready to hear these words.

Yuval Abraham made these remarks on Sunday during the closing ceremony of the Berlinale, when he won the prize for best documentary with his Palestinian co-director: “Basel and I are the same age. I am Israeli, Basel is Palestinian. And in two days, we will return to a land where we are not equal. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it must end. ” The extract from the Israeli filmmaker’s speech was broadcast on Israeli Channel 11, being described as “anti-Semitic speech”.

Israeli and anti-occupation activist

Since then, Yuval Abraham has received death threats every day. On Tuesday, a crowd of right-wing activists went to his family’s home to look for him. Because before being a documentarian, Yuval Abraham is first and foremost an Israeli, an anti-occupation activist, perfectly Arabic-speaking. He does not hesitate to denounce the situation in the occupied territories. Notably when he was filming his just-awarded documentary in the hills of southern Hebron, an area where Palestinians are being driven from their land. “Frankly, all we see is a lot of injustice, so I’m angry, the filmmaker confided to franceinfo a few months ago. But no matter how much I document all these violations, the Israeli occupying forces will always do what they want…” Yuval Abraham says that, despite everything, he is happy that the award-winning film is causing such controversy and he hopes that millions of people will watch it when it is released.