Palestinian activist linked to Oscar-winning film 'killed' by Israeli settler in West Bank

United News of India

3 days ago

Jerusalem, July 30 (UNI) A prominent Palestinian activist, Odeh Hathalin, who contributed as a consultant to the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land", was fatally shot on Monday during an assault allegedly carried out by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, according to reports from local officials and journalists.
The shooting occurred in the village of Umm al-Khair, part of the Masafer Yatta community, an area long subjected to tensions between Palestinian residents, Israeli settlers and security forces. The village lies within a cluster of remote hamlets frequently targeted by settler expansion and military enforcement.
Eyewitness footage, geolocated and verified by CNN, captured Yinon Levi, a notorious settler figure wielding a handgun while confronting local villagers. A video shared by Abraham on X showed Levi firing a gun multiple times as he confronted Palestinian villagers. CNN geolocated the video to the site of the incident.
In the video, Levi – carrying a handgun, standing in front of a bulldozer – is seen grappling with a villager and pushing away the man filming him. He then begins to fire to his side and in the air, then moves towards the handful of Palestinians. The villagers soon begin to run away.
It was unclear from the footage what Levi was shooting at. Another video obtained by CNN showed a man who appeared to be Hathalin bleeding on the ground. The Palestinian health ministry said later he had succumbed to his injuries.
Hathalin had long been an emblematic figure in the non-violent resistance movement in southern Hebron, documenting settler violence and state-backed displacement in the South Hebron Hills, particularly in the Masafer Yatta region region, an area long targeted by Israeli authorities for demolition under the pretext of military training zones.
Levi was sanctioned by the Biden administration and the European Union last year but was removed from the US sanctions list shortly after President Donald Trump took office this year. In its initial sanctions announcement in April 2024, the US Department of Treasury State Department said that Levi 'regularly led groups of violent extremists who engaged in actions creating an atmosphere of fear in the West Bank.'
It added that groups led by Levi assaulted Palestinian civilians, 'threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property.'
Many settlers are armed, and violence in the West Bank has surged since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. At least 964 Palestinians have been killed since then by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations, as of July 15.
Settlers have a strong influence on Israeli politics, and in the rare cases where they are arrested for violent attacks against Palestinians, they are often released without charge. Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.
Alaa al-Hathalin, Hathalin's cousin, told CNN that Levi was known to the community because 'he always attacks us.'
Levi's lawyer Avichai Hajbi criticised the police for arresting his client and claimed 'the investigating unit itself admitted that the shooting was carried out due to a life-threatening situation faced by Yinon Levi and another individual.' His client was 'attacked by a mob throwing stones, endangering his life and that of others,' Hajbi said in a statement.
Ofer Cassif, a left-wing member of Israel's parliament, has demanded that authorities launch an investigation into Hathalin's death.
CNN reported in March that settlers had also targeted Hamdan Ballal, another co-director of 'No Other Land,' outside his home in the village of Susya, also in Masser Yatta. Ballal, who had recently returned from Los Angeles to accept an Oscar for the film, told CNN he thought the group of settlers would kill him. He said he was detained by Israeli soldiers, handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten.
The film 'No Other Land,' which tracked the destruction of the Masser Yatta community between 2019 and 2023, won Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars. Its final scene shows Adra's cousin, Zakara al-Adra, being shot by an Israeli settler in October 2023.
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