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Yuval Abraham

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Yuval Abraham
Abraham at the 2024 Berlinale
Born1995
Years active2017–present

Yuval Abraham (Hebrew: יובל אברהם; born 1995) is an Israeli investigative journalist, film director and Arabic–Hebrew translator. He rose to international prominence when he co-directed the documentary No Other Land (2024) about IDF and settler violence in the West Bank and gave a pro-equality and anti-apartheid speech at the 2024 Berlinale.

Early life

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Based in Jerusalem, Abraham was born to an Israeli middle-class family in the southern city of Beersheba.[1] He is of Arab Jewish and European Jewish ancestry; his Jewish Yemeni grandfather was a fluent Palestinian Arabic speaker.[2] His grandmother was born in an Italian concentration camp in Libya, while his other grandfather lost most of his family in the Holocaust.[3] Abraham studied Arabic and filmmaking.[4]

Career

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Learning Arabic and meeting Palestinians in the West Bank, including staying with families as their homes were demolished by the IDF, Abraham became an outspoken critic of the oppression of Palestinians.[5][6] He has worked in language education and taught Arabic.[7]

In 2019, Abraham reached out to London-based journalist Ahmed Alnaouq, who runs the Gaza writers' collective We Are Not Numbers (WANN), for an interview, and helped Alnaouq, who wanted the stories to reach a wider audience, connect with translators.[8] Together, Abraham and Alnaouq founded Across the Wall, a platform where Palestinians' stories would be translated into Hebrew with the aim of humanising Palestinians and challenging mainstream Israeli narratives that demonise them.[5] The webpage reportedly received over a million visitors in 2021. The project was put on indefinite hiatus in November 2023 after 23 members of Alnaouq's family, including young children, were killed by Israeli bombing.[9]

As of 2024, Abraham works as a journalist and investigative reporter for the independent media outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call, having called them "the only places" he can "try to use my privilege to expose the mechanisms of oppression in our country, whether it's by documenting the demolition of a Palestinian family's home in Jerusalem or speaking to refugees in Jenin".[10] He also worked for Social TV, contributed to publications such as The Guardian,[11] The Nation, and appeared on networks like Democracy Now[12] and CNN.[13]

No Other Land

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Abraham co-directed, co-filmed and featured in the documentary No Other Land with Basel Adra alongside Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, about Adra's long-term attempts to resist Israeli settler violence and displacement from his home in Masafer Yatta. The group had no prior experience in documentary filmmaking and initially approached the story as activists and journalists.[2] Working together for over five years, with Adra and Ballal having footage from years prior including home videos from Adra's family, the documentary depicts Adra befriending Abraham and juxtaposes Adra's life under occupation with Abraham's life of freedom.[6][14] No Other Land opened to critical acclaim at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in February 2024, where it won two documentary awards: The Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film[15] and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.[16]

In his acceptance speech, Abraham called for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the "situation of apartheid... [and] inequality" between himself and Adra in the occupied West Bank to end.[17] This drew accusations of antisemitism from German politicians such as Kai Wegner, inciting death threats against Abraham and a right-wing mob at his family's house in Israel, forcing Abraham to cancel his flight back during a stopover in Athens.[18] Abraham made a viral statement on social media: "The appalling misuse of this word... to silence Israelis like me who support a ceasefire... empties the word antisemitism of meaning and thus endangers Jews all over the world". He found it "particularly outraging" coming from German politicians and also expressed concern for Adra's safety "under a military occupation surrounded by violent settlements".[19] The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged authorities to protect Abraham and his family.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Keane, Fergal (6 November 2023). "The writers who reached out across the divide". BBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b Salwa, Ola (28 February 2024). "Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham • Directors of No Other Land". CinEuropa. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  3. ^ Escritt, Thomas; Alkousaa, Riham (17 February 2024). "Together but apart: Israeli-Palestinian duo's West Bank story at Berlinale". Reuters. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Yuval Abraham". Just Vision. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b Alnaouq, Ahmed (26 July 2022). "Across the wall: The role of Palestinian stories in Hebrew". The New Arab. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b Vivarelli, Nick (16 February 2024). "Palestinian, Israeli Activists Talk 'No Other Land' Doc on Eradication of Palestinian Villages and Hopes It Can Help 'Find a Political Solution'". Variety. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Yuval Abraham". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  8. ^ Noy, Orly (6 January 2020). "Palestinians in Gaza are bringing their stories of siege to Israelis". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  9. ^ Dayan, Linda (2 November 2023). "Ahmed Wanted Israelis to Listen to Gazans. Then 23 of His Family Members Were Killed". Haaretz. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Support +972, a critical anti-occupation voice in Israel-Palestine - Yuval Abraham, writer". Jewish Voice for Labour. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Yuval Abraham | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  12. ^ "Shows featuring Yuval Abraham". Democracy Now!. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  13. ^ Golodryga, Bianna (11 January 2024). "Some Israeli intel officers 'shocked by what they were asked to do' in Gaza, says Israeli journalist". CNN. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  14. ^ Rapold, Nicolas (27 February 2024). ""There is No Nice Way to Bulldoze a School": Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham on No Other Land". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  15. ^ Roxborough, Scott (24 February 2024). "Berlin: Memories of a Burning Body, No Other Land Win Panorama Audience Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  16. ^ Abbatescianni, Davide (24 February 2024). "Mati Diop's Dahomey bags the Berlinale Golden Bear". Cineuropa. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  17. ^ ""The Apartheid Has to End": Director Yuval Abraham Highlights Palestinian Plight in Berlinale Speech". Democracy Now!. 26 February 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  18. ^ Mouriquand, David (24 February 2024). "Antisemitism accusations, hacks, and criminal charges: The Berlinale controversy explained". euronews. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  19. ^ Vlessing, Etan (27 February 2024). "Israeli Filmmaker Slams German Politicians for Branding Berlin Award-Winning Speech "Antisemitic"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Media watchdog urges protection of Israeli journalist facing death threats after pro-Palestine speech". Arab News. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
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