A PALESTINIAN filmmaker has condemned the “injustice” and “ethnic cleansing” taking place in Gaza during his Oscars acceptance speech.
No Other Land, a film about Palestinians fighting to protect their homes from demolition by Israel’s military, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature on Sunday.
The collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, produced between 2019 and 2023, follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown, Masafer Yatta, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone, at the southern edge of the West Bank.
Incredible moment when Israel's occupation, Israel's apartheid, and Israel's destruction of Gaza are called out at the Oscars! Thank you @basel_adra & @yuval_abraham for your powerful voices.#Oscars #Oscars2025 pic.twitter.com/gEuAOd59nx
— Omar Baddar عمر بدّار (@OmarBaddar) March 3, 2025
Adra’s pleas are ignored until he befriends a Jewish-Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham, who helps him amplify his story.
Accepting the award, Adra said No Other Land reflects the harsh reality Palestinians have been enduring for decades.
He said: “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'm living now, always fearing settlers' violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements that my community is living and facing every day under the Israeli occupation.
He also called on the world to “take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people”.
‘Can’t you see we are intertwined?’
Meanwhile, Abraham said: “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 October 7, which must be freed.
“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 Bassel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control.”
Abraham added that “there is a different path, a political solution”, adding that United States’ foreign policy is “helping to block this path”.
He continued: “Can't you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basil's people are truly free and safe.
“There is another way. It's not too late for life, for the living. There is no other way.”
