Israeli settler accused of killing Palestinian involved in Oscar-winning West Bank film

Saudi Gazette

3 days ago

JERUSALEM — An Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian teacher who helped film Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, according to the Palestinian education ministry and an Israeli-American activist who was at the scene of the shooting.
No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham said on X that a settler shot Odeh Hathaleen in the lungs in Umm Al-Khair village in the occupied West Bank.
Residents allege the shooter was Yinon Levy, who is sanctioned by the UK.
Attorney Avichai Hajbi said he was representing a resident "who felt his life was in danger, was forced to fire his weapon into the air" after residents were "attacked by an Arab mob, along with foreign activists, with stones and violence".
Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American activist at the scene, told the BBC that at about 17:20 local time (15:20 BST) on Monday, a bulldozer from a nearby Israeli settlement was driven through private Palestinian land, crushing a sewage pipe, multiple olive trees and two fences.
Berner-Kadish and other activists, including Hathaleen's cousin Ahmad, ran to block the bulldozer. The activist said the driver hit Ahmad in the neck and shoulder with a drill that extended from the bulldozer, with his footage capturing Ahmad falling to the ground. Berner-Kadish did not believe Levy was driving.While attending to Ahmad's injuries, Berner-Kadish heard a pop. Running back to the village to get water, he saw Hathaleen lying bleeding from a gunshot wound and Levy, the only settler he saw, holding a gun.In a video believed to be filmed by a relative of Hathaleen and posted on social media, a man identified as Levy is seen holding a pistol with a bulldozer behind him, as men yell at him. Levy pushes at one man, who pushes back. Levy then raises his pistol and shoots ahead of him, then again into the air.The clip cuts off when the person filming turns around to run away as women are heard screaming.The footage does not show what or who the shots hit, if anything, and whether anyone else was shooting. There are no other settlers visible.Israeli police said it was investigating the incident in the area of Carmel, an Israeli settlement near Umm Al-Khair."As a result of the incident, a Palestinian man was pronounced deceased. His exact involvement is under investigation," police told the BBC.Police said on Tuesday morning they had detained an Israeli citizen for questioning. Israeli media later reported Levy was released on house arrest.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also detained five Palestinians on suspicion of involvement in the incident, along with two foreign tourists who were present. Berner-Kadish said on Tuesday evening they were still detained.The activist, who began visiting the village in 2021, said Hathaleen was "one of my best friends in the world" and the two were days away from constructing a football field in the village. He added that Hathaleen was a "warm and loving" father of three young children.The Palestinian education ministry said Hathaleen was a teacher at a local secondary school.US congresswoman Lateefah Simon, a Democrat from California, said she was "heartbroken" over the killing of Hathaleen. He and his cousin, "both holding valid visas", were detained and deported from San Francisco airport last month while travelling for a multicultural faith dialogue, she said.Abraham said Hathaleen had helped film No Other Land, the 2025 Oscar winner for best documentary feature that follows the legal fight between the Israeli government and Palestinians over Masafer Yatta, a West Bank community of about 20 villages.Israel's Supreme Court ruled to allow the demolition of homes and expulsion of more than 1,000 villagers in 2022.Eliram Azulai, the chairman of the local Israeli Mount Hebron Regional Council, said in response to Monday's incident that they had warned "and demanded the creation of security zones around the communities, and today we witnessed first-hand the danger posed by illegal construction in the area".Levy, a leader of an outpost farm, was sanctioned by the UK in 2024, along with others, because he "used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities".He denied the allegations to the BBC last year.He was also sanctioned by the US under the Biden administration, along with others, last year, but President Donald Trump lifted those sanctions.Gilad Kariv, a member of Israel's Knesset from the Democrats party, said on X in response to the video that "in the territories, armed Jewish militias operate unchecked".Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.The settlements are considered illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year - although Israel disputes this.Settlement expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition.Settler violence, which has also been on the rise for years, has surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.The UN documented at least 27 attacks by settlers against Palestinians that resulted in property damage, casualties or both, between 15 and 21 July, in the West Bank.The UN says at least 948 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, 15 by Israeli settlers, and another 10 by either Israeli forces or settlers since the start of the war.At least 52 Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank over the same period. — BBC