Why is America afraid of “no other land”? | Israel-Palestinian conflict

On Sunday, the Israeli-Palestinian co-production no other land received an Oscar award for Best Documentary. The Oscar – the first for Palestine – is now added to the list of 45 awards, which the film won after its release in 2024, including the most good documentary in the European Film Awards in 2024, the International Film Festival in 2024 and the GOTHAM 2024 Awards.

The function was widely recognized as glowing five -star reviews in international media. It is projected around the world and is constantly sold in independent screenings in the United States. Still, no American distributor would take it to show it all over the country. The only reason for this is his topic: Palestine.

The documentary follows the life of the Palestinian Communities in Masafer Yata, an area near Hebron in the southern occupied West coast, which the Israeli army declared a “war zone”. In this pretext, Israeli troops and illegal settlers regularly harass their residents and destroy their houses, making them homeless. The story is told through the lens of co-directors Basel Adra, Palestinian activist, and Jual Abraham, Israeli journalist.

This harsh, painful depiction of Israel's current crimes is something that distributors are obviously afraid to show. And this is in a country that is proud of its constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression.

The fear of distributors is a great illustration of how massive the campaign is to erase Palestine in the United States, affecting every aspect of public life – from education to the media and to the arts and cinema.

Of course, anti -chalestin censorship is nothing new. Since 1948, Palestinian culture and history have been constantly confronted with an attempt to erase, as Israel is trying to justify their grabbing on earth, claiming that the Palestinian people do not exist and has no right to their own land. This story also dominates public perceptions in Western countries that have supported Israel throughout its existence – first of all, the United States.

Maintaining this story is crucial for continuing political support.

If the US public is exposed to more information about what is happening in Palestine, if the Palestinians are humanized in the main stream, if they are given a platform to tell their stories about the experience of genocide and apartheid, then public opinion will begin to move dramatically.

It is already. Different polls in the last year have shown that Americans, especially Democrats, disagree with their government's policies regarding Israel-Palestine. The bigger part of the Democrats supported the cessation of fire in Gaza when President Joe Biden's administration refused to approve. This position eventually cost Kamala Harris countless voices in the presidential election.

A significant change in public opinion on Israel-Palestine would make it difficult for the US Congress to maintain the multi-billion-dollar financing of Israeli military and political support for occupation and apartheid.

Therefore, the deletion campaign – led by Israel itself – against the Palestinian voices, stories and history must be maintained.

But the challenges that no other land has experienced after its release is not just another clear case of anti -chalestin censorship.

The film has shared a story between Palestinian and Israeli. Not only does Adra's voice are heard in the documentary, talking about what is happening in Palestine, but also in Abraham.

As the latter acknowledged during his speech to accept the Oscars Award: “Together our votes are stronger.” In fact, if the film had been completely Palestinian made, it would have been marked as prejudiced and fight to raise the same level of global attention. The presence of an Israeli co-director may have opened some doors, but also made it more “dangerous”.

In his speech, Abraham said, “When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are uneven. We live in a regime in which I am free under civil law, but Basel must live under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control. There is a different path. A political solution without ethnic supremacy. “

The idea of ​​Israeli as Abraham, expressing opposition to apartheid and occupation, is obviously not tolerated. He does not respond to the basic story that Israel is the moral compass and that all Palestinians want only the deletion of all Jews.

There are many Jewish Americans who share Abraham's views and spoke against Israel. Not only have they been marked as “self -pursuing Jews” by Israel's supporters, they have also been harassed, censored, accused of anti -Semitism and even arrested during demonstrations.

Such attacks under the guise of “counteracting anti -Semitism” and “from concern for Jewish safety” have actually made many Jewish people dangerous.

Abraham himself was made to feel “dangerous and unwanted” in Germany – the very country that made his reason to defend themselves of Israel and a Jewish people – after his speech to accept the Berlin Film Festival last year.

German politicians rushed to label their speech “anti -Semitic”, while Berlin's Berlin website defines no other land as “manifesting anti -Semitic tendencies”.

Like the US, Germany has only doubled in support for Israel since the beginning of its genocidal campaign in Gaza. In this way, both sides, like the other Western supporters of Israel, have become barriers before peace.

Abraham mentioned this moment during his speech of acceptance, saying that it was “foreign policy that helps to block the path” to peace.

Despite all the challenges it is facing, no other land has achieved remarkable success. Hoping to still reach a wider audience in the United States, the filmmakers have chosen to self-identify in selected theaters. To find out where the movie is pronounced, you can visit his WebsiteS

No other land is a powerful movie that Americans should see. As Adra pointed out in a recent interview with democracy now, we are responsible. Our tax money has funded the destruction of his community, which has only accelerated in the last year.

A few weeks before the victory of Oscar, Adra wrote on social media: “Anyone who is interested in no other land should not be interested in what actually happens on Earth … Masafer Yaa disappears before my eyes.”

Americans need to take action.

The anger expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazee's editorial position.