US foreign policy blocking path to Palestinian freedom – Israeli Oscar winner

US foreign policy “is helping to block” a path to Palestinians having their own freedoms, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham said as he picked up the Oscar for best documentary feature film.

The film’s team referenced the conflict in the Middle East as they picked up the gong for Palestinian-Israeli film No Other Land, about the disputed West Bank, at the 97th Academy Awards, hosted by US comedian Conan O’Brien.

Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham said he lives “free under civilian law”, but that Palestinian journalist Basel Adra lives under another legislation in Israel.

“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger”, he said.

“We see each other, the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end.

“The Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed.

“When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal.

“We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control.

“There is a different path, a political solution, without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.

“And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.

“And, you know? Why can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe? There is another way.

“It’s not too late for life, for the living. There is no other way. Thank you.”

On stage, Adra called for the end of what he called the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people”.

He said: “Thank you to the Academy for the award. It’s such a big honour for the four of us and everybody (who) supported us for this documentary.

“About two months ago I became a father, and my hope to my daughter (is) that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always feeling subtle violence, home demolitions and forceful displacement that my community … is living and facing every day under the Israeli occupation.

“No Other Land reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades and still resist as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.”

The war between Israel and Hamas began with Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack that left 1,200 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, and saw some 250 people taken hostage.

Since then, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but say more than half the dead have been women and children.