The BDS movement and Israel’s right-wing culture minister agree on one thing: “No Other Land,” the Israeli-Palestinian documentary that just won the Oscar for best documentary, is anathema.
One says the movie is a smear on Israel. The other says it subtly works to perpetuate Israeli crimes.
And those two campaigns against the film have created another unlikely alliance — between defenders and critics of Israel who say “No Other Land” is worth watching.
The documentary chronicles Israeli demolitions in the West Bank Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta. In their acceptance speeches at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, Palestinian co-director Basel Adra criticized the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham called for an end to Israel’s “unequal” treatment of Palestinians.
So it’s unsurprising that Israeli government officials, as well as some pro-Israel activists, are slamming the film as a skewed depiction that gives short shrift to Israel’s positions and not enough attention to the bloodshed of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Culture Minister Miki Zohar, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, called the Oscar “a sad moment for the world of cinema.”
“Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art — it is sabotage against the State of Israel, especially in the wake of the October 7th massacre and the ongoing war,” he added, touting a measure he took to avoid sending government funds to works that are “slandering Israel on the global stage.”
Israel Bachar, Israel’s consul general in Los Angeles, suggested viewers watch videos from Oct. 7 of “slaughtering entire families, kidnapping the elderly and infants, and committing every crime against humanity. That is the real documentary!”
Many in the pro-Israel world shared similar criticisms. Shira Ruderman, whose Ruderman Family Foundation funds film and TV projects, vowed on Facebook to never support Abraham’s work, writing that she was “pained and embarrassed” by his speech.
Some pro-Israel activists falsely claimed that Hayim Katsman, a peace activist who was murdered on Oct. 7, was involved in the film’s creation — and that Abraham snubbed Katsman by omitting him from the Oscars speech. Katsman’s mother quickly clarified that her son was not involved in the movie, though some of the false claims remain online.
On Wednesday, the ranks of critics gained a prominent if unexpected voice: the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, or PACBI.
In a lengthy statement, the group encouraged viewers to shun “No Other Land.”
Unlike the Israeli critics, PACBI does not object to much of the film’s content. Rather, its objection is rooted in a phrase that has become increasingly salient in the pro-Palestinian activist world: anti-normalization.
A still from “No Other Land,” the award-winning documentary about Israeli demolitions in the West Bank. (Antipode Films)
PACBI defines anti-normalization as the refusal to work with Israelis, unless they call for an “end to the occupation, end to apartheid, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.” The project in question, in addition, must be one of “co-resistance against the Israeli regime.”
In other words, anti-normalization is generally understood as the Palestinian refusal to work with nearly all Israelis. The idea has gained currency in anti-Israel activist circles in recent years. It’s the ideological foundation undergirding pro-Palestinian groups’ refusal to interact with pro-Israel groups, on the argument that they support Israel’s existence and, therefore, are out of bounds.
It’s also why PACBI called last year for a boycott of Standing Together, one of the most visible Israeli-Palestinian anti-occupation groups (which is also organizing Israeli screenings of “No Other Land.”)
Now, PACBI claims that “No Other Land” and its creators run afoul of its anti-normalization standards.
“The BDS movement has always fought against normalization as a powerful weapon employed by oppressors to whitewash their crimes, to colonize the minds of the oppressed, and to undermine global solidarity with the struggle to end oppression,” PACBI said, referring to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
It added, “Now, given its growing profile and in particular following its Oscar win, we find it important to explain how the film is in violation of BDS guidelines for people to enhance the collective understanding of normalization and its dangers, and to protect our struggle from the heightened risk of using normalization to whitewash genocide. The ends never justify the unethical means.”
Other hardline pro-Palestinian activists supported PACBI’s stance.
“No Other Land serves a soft Zionist function—exposing certain injustices while still legitimizing Zionist presence as part of the narrative, rather than centering decolonization and Palestinian liberation on our own terms,” tweeted Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime, a New York City-based group that praises Hamas and routinely calls for Israel’s destruction.
Predictably, the backlash has sparked its own backlash. Prominent pro-Israel voices, as well as critics of Israel, defended the movie — or at least called on their allies to tone down the criticism.
More than 100 Israeli filmmakers, including some prominent names, signed a letter in defense of the film this week. And Israel advocates are countering the criticism on social media as well.
Israeli director Yuval Abraham (L) and Palestinian director Basel Adra speak on stage after having received the Berlinale documentary award for “No Other Land” during the awards ceremony of the 74th Berlinale International Film Festival, Feb. 24, 2024 in Berlin. (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
“We now have Jewish influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers calling No Other Land ‘terrorist propaganda,’” tweeted pro-Israel influencer Blake Flayton. “I am critical of the film as well, but COME ON people. Labeling *everything* as the work of ‘terrorists’ is why we keep losing arguments. Engage with the issue that the film addresses directly. Do not be afraid to criticize Israel, it strengthens our credibility.”
SImilar pushback came from pro-Israel influencer Hen Mazzig, who said the film’s creators “did not call for ethnic cleansing. They did not downplay the violence of October 7th.”
“Were they harsh when they talked about the Israeli government? It depends who you’re asking. Empathy isn’t a zero-sum game,” he wrote. “It’s important to remember that not every disagreement or hard conversation is hate speech. We get more done when we listen and learn from each other.”
Among Palestinians, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, congratulated Adra on his win. So did Mo Amer, a Palestinian-American comedian who stars in a self-titled Netflix show.
Political commentator Mehdi Hasan, one of the most prominent pro-Palestinian voices on X, called the film “powerful. Infuriating. Heartbreaking. Revealing.” and thanked Abraham and Adra.
And in a lengthy thread, Monica Marks — who teaches Middle East politics at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus and has posted tweets critical of Israel — puzzled at the logic of the PACBI statement rejecting the film.
“The takeaway I come away with here is that an Israeli person can essentially dedicate their life to fighting Israel’s crimes, can denounce those crimes in the harshest terms available, can publish some of the greatest journalism exposing crimes of genocide… And *still* not be enough.”
She continued, “If that’s not a project of joint resistance, what is? If that’s not a magnum opus driven by the conviction that Palestinians’ rights are inalienable & they deserve full justice & equality, what is? If Yuval Abraham is not enough, what Israeli is?”
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