BDS wants a boycott of ‘No Other Land.’ As Palestinian and Jewish peace activists, we disagree

There’s a new source of pressure for the besieged Palestinian and Israeli co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land: the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. To those outside the world of pro-Palestinian activism, it may seem strange that a tentpost of that world would urge a boycott of a documentary widely lauded for its stark depiction of Israeli encroachment in the occupied West Bank.

But this internal division reflects longstanding disagreements over a process called “normalization,” in which diplomatic, cultural or economic efforts are used to sanitize Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. BDS’s argument, in this situation, is that No Other Land is part of that process, despite its deep critiques of Israel. BDS contends — amid a plethora of other arguments — that the film’s joint production suggests that Palestinian stories can only be treated as legitimate when they are platformed via shared initiatives with Israelis.

But we, as a Palestinian and Jewish pair that have engaged in activism for the Palestinian cause for years, unequivocally reject this framing of No Other Land. Such regressive claims serve an agenda meant to tear down joint frameworks of solidarity and storytelling that are crucial to the fight for Palestinian freedom.

The forces that oppose a project like No Other Land are extreme. The two most public-facing co-directors — Basel Adra, who is Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, who is Israeli — have endured endless attacks and setbacks, including from a right-wing Israeli mob that staked out Abraham’s family home in a blatant act of intimidation, and, less violently, from U.S. distributors who refused to touch the film for fear of setting off a political firestorm.

This pushback has been harmful in ways that are, unfortunately, predictable for projects that aim to expose the extent of Israeli violence toward Palestinians, and the separate and unequal legal regime under which Palestinians live. That the film triumphed at the Oscars, despite that pushback, is a testament to how powerful it is.

And yet many prominent anti-Zionist activists took to social media after the win to voice concerns and even outrage about the film, most of which was directed at Abraham. Some decried him for mentioning the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in his acceptance speech; others outright denounced the participation of an Israeli in the project in any capacity.

Then, on Wednesday night, came the BDS statement, which argued that the film violated its “anti-normalization guidelines,” and that “the ends never justify the unethical means.”

But we argue that the involvement of Israelis and Jews in pro-Palestinian projects is far from inherently unethical.

Joint Palestinian and Israeli initiatives have arguably been the most effective approach for transforming the hearts and minds of staunch Zionists around the Palestinian cause. They provide one of few forums that allow for an honest conversation about the damages wrought by Israel in mainstream Jewish spaces. And we — as activists deeply invested in building dialogue between our two peoples — can attest firsthand that simply allowing Jewish youth to engage with and hear the Palestinian story can effectively challenge firmly held negative beliefs about the “other.”

In our experience, after a joint space or solidarity activity is validated by at least one Jewish individual, it becomes much easier for other Jews to feel brave enough to embrace and sympathize with the stories of their Palestinian brethren.

These changes are important. Jews, in the U.S. and Israel alike, have agency when it comes to agitating for bringing an end to the unceasing violence, discrimination and dispossession that currently grip the occupied Palestinian Territories. But much of mainstream Jewish life happens in institutions that do not proactively provide their constituents with real opportunities to engage with, understand and humanize Palestinians.

There is no reason to see that status quo as unchangeable. Every mind changed is an aid to our movement. Through grassroots structures for joint dialogue, activism and solidarity, Palestinians gain the agency to have their stories — which are otherwise largely excluded — recounted and amplified in Jewish spaces.

That process helps us see that we are not all that different; that we have much more in common than what divides us; and we must stand up for the vulnerable among us. In this case, that entails standing up for our Palestinian siblings, who live in constant fear of being forced out of their homes and off their land — one of the primary throughlines of No Other Land — while also facing unpredictable and unprovoked violence by settlers and the IDF, alongside diminished economic opportunities due to the stringent conditions of occupation.

To our eyes, there is no question that No Other Land serves the project of introducing Palestinian stories to those who most need to hear them. Its political efficacy is clear: All those who disparaged the project before the Oscars likely began to sweat just a bit when Abraham, in his Oscar acceptance speech, said, “when I look at Basel, I see my brother.” Seeing each other as part of the same family, rather than as enemies or “others,” helps to construct a pathway for light to overcome our contemporary sea of despair and darkness.

Adra, Abraham and the rest of the team behind No Other Land do not deserve to be boycotted. On the contrary, their bond — forged through their common struggle against oppression in Palestine — reflects a model of brotherhood, unity and solidarity that every Jew and Palestinian should strive to champion.

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