The Oscar Win of “No Other Land”: A Propaganda Triumph Masquerading as Documentary Filmmaking

 

By: Fern Sidman

The 2025 Academy Awards will be remembered not only for celebrating cinematic excellence but also for serving as a platform for anti-Israel propaganda, as exemplified by the controversial Best Documentary Feature winner, No Other Land. Directed by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, the film presents itself as an unflinching account of the so-called forced displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, a region in the West Bank. However, a deeper examination of the film exposes a glaring omission of crucial context: the ongoing Palestinian terrorism that has claimed the lives of countless innocent Israeli civilians.

A One-Sided Narrative

‘No Other Land’ had already been celebrated at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, winning the Berlinale Documentary Award. The film purports to chronicle the hardships of Palestinians facing Israeli military actions, but it conveniently ignores the brutal terrorism that necessitates these security measures in the first place. Between 2019 and 2023—when the documentary was filmed—Israel faced relentless terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings, stabbings, and rocket barrages from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian factions. Yet, the film fails to mention even a single act of Palestinian terrorism, portraying Israel as an unprovoked aggressor rather than a state forced to defend itself against existential threats.

Even more egregiously, ‘No Other Land’ does not reference the horrific Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023, when terrorists slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, including children, women, and the elderly, while also taking over 250 hostages. This omission is not an oversight—it is a deliberate attempt to distort reality and perpetuate the false narrative that Palestinians are perpetual victims while Israelis are the aggressors.

Hollywood’s Embrace of Anti-Israel Sentiment

When co-director Basel Adra took the stage to accept the Oscar, his remarks reinforced the film’s misleading premise. He spoke of Palestinians “always fearing certain violence, home demolitions, and forced displacement,” and described Israel’s actions as “ethnic cleansing.” This inflammatory rhetoric went unchallenged in the Dolby Theatre, where the audience responded with a standing ovation.

His co-director, Yuval Abraham, echoed the film’s anti-Israel bias by portraying himself and Adra as “brothers” yet unequal under Israeli law. He stated that Palestinians live under military rule while Israelis enjoy civilian freedoms, but this soundbite ignores a critical fact: the reason Palestinian territories are governed differently is because they are controlled by corrupt, terrorist-affiliated leaders who reject peace and incite violence. Had the Palestinian Authority agreed to any of Israel’s peace offers—whether under Ehud Barak in 2000, Ehud Olmert in 2008, or even the Abraham Accords framework—Palestinians could have self-governed in a legitimate and peaceful state. Instead, their leadership has chosen violence, preferring to keep their people in perpetual conflict to further an anti-Israel agenda.

Worse still, Abraham had the audacity to suggest that U.S. foreign policy is blocking a so-called path to peace, implying that America’s support for Israel is unjust. In reality, the real blockade to peace is Palestinian rejectionism, glorification of terrorism, and refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

A Deliberate Campaign Against Israel

The film’s reception in Hollywood reflects a growing trend of anti-Israel bias in the entertainment industry. While ‘No Other Land’ struggled to find U.S. distribution—likely due to its overtly political agenda—it was eventually self-distributed and screened in 100 theaters, where it played to sold-out audiences eager to consume content that vilifies Israel. The Guardian’s Adrian Horton called the film “unsensationalized and completely infuriating,” revealing how Western media has become complicit in amplifying Palestinian propaganda while ignoring Israeli suffering.

The statistics cited at the Academy Awards further illustrate this selective storytelling. Adra and Abraham claimed that since October 7, Israel has killed over 48,200 Palestinians and displaced 2 million people. These numbers, sourced from Hamas-run institutions, are designed to generate outrage while obfuscating the reality: Israel is at war with an Iranian-backed genocidal terrorist organization that hides behind civilians and uses human shields to manipulate global sympathy. No mention was made of Hamas’s use of hospitals and schools as military bases, or the Israeli hostages still languishing in Gaza under inhumane conditions.

The Broader Implications of Hollywood’s Bias

The applause that met the filmmakers’ anti-Israel rhetoric at the Oscars was chilling. It signified more than just support for a documentary—it was a validation of a false narrative that seeks to delegitimize Israel’s very existence. The subtext of this applause was clear: Israel is an occupier, a thief, a nation with no rightful claim to its own homeland. This sentiment aligns with a disturbing trend in global discourse, where Israel’s mere presence is framed as the root cause of conflict, rather than the terrorism it faces daily.

Had a film been made about the victims of Hamas’s October 7 massacre—the families torn apart, the children burned alive, the elderly taken hostage—would it have received the same enthusiastic reception? Would the Academy have granted it a nomination, let alone a win? The answer is likely no, because the prevailing narrative in Hollywood is that Israeli suffering does not matter.

The Weaponization of Cinema

‘No Other Land’ is not a documentary—it is a propaganda piece masquerading as truth. By erasing the reality of Palestinian terrorism, Hamas’s atrocities, and Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense, the film seeks to rewrite history. Its Oscar win reflects the broader ideological shift in Hollywood, where anti-Israel sentiment is increasingly mainstream and objective truth is sacrificed for political activism.

Israel’s right to exist is not up for debate. Yet, films such as ‘No Other Land’ contribute to a growing climate where demonizing Israel is not only acceptable but rewarded. The Academy Awards have once again demonstrated that in the eyes of many in the global cultural elite, Israel is the villain, and the Jewish state must constantly justify its existence while its enemies are absolved of all responsibility.

The world may applaud ‘No Other Land’ but truth remains on Israel’s side.