'Stop the Ethnic Cleansing': Watch and Read the Most Powerful Oscars Speech for Years

Remarkable and historic speeches from both Palestinian co-director Basel Adra and Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham, after their film 'No Other Land' won the Oscar for Best Documentary.

Mar 03, 2025

Hollywood has been cracking down on pro-Palestine voices since Oct. 7th, 2023, from the firing of Melissa Barrera from ‘Scream 7’, to the demotion of CAA power agent Maha Dakhil, to Susan Sarandon saying her “projects were pulled.”

It was, therefore, a rather pleasant surprise to see the most elite Hollywood audience of all - the crowd at the 97th Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theater on Sunday evening - loudly applauding and cheering a Palestinian onstage, in primetime, as he decried the “ethnic cleansing” of his people and the “atrocious destruction of Gaza.”

Basel Adra is the Palestinian co-director of ‘No Other Land,’ which won the Oscar for Best Documentary on Sunday. The film was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists - Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor - and tells the story of the destruction of Masafer Yatta, in the occupied West Bank, by the Israeli military. The title, ‘No Other Land,’ comes from a woman in the film who asks where else the Palestinians of the West Bank are supposed to go.

Abraham, in his acceptance speech, not only highlighted the “ethnic supremacy” instituted by his country in the Occupied Palestinian Territories but also challenged the destructive role of the United States: “I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path [to peace].”

Got that? Not only did a film about occupied and persecuted Palestinians win an Oscar, but the great and the good of Hollywood put their hands together for two speeches slamming “ethnic cleansing” and “ethnic supremacy” in Palestine. To quote the title of a previous Oscar winner’s best song: Times Have Changed.

Nevertheless, they haven’t changed enough. As the New York Times noted on Sunday night, the film’s Oscar win represents “a landmark and a rebuke. Despite a string of honors and rave reviews, no distributor would pick up this film in the United States, making it nearly impossible for American filmgoers to see it in theaters or to stream it.”

As I have said many times before, the biggest victims of so-called ‘cancel culture’ in the US remain the Palestinian people and their supporters. The shameful treatment of ‘No Other Land’ by the big distributors in our movie industry is just the latest and best example of that.

So let us do our best to make sure Adra and Abraham’s powerful and historic speeches go far and wide. You can watch and read them in full below.

BASEL ADRA

“Thank you to the Academy for the award. It’s such a big honor 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 am living now, always fearing violence, home demolitions, forced displacement that my community, Masafer Yatta, is facing every day. ‘No Other Land’ reflects the harsh reality 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.”

YUVAL ABRAHAM

“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other. The atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end; the Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of Oct. 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 lives, that 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. 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.”

Note: It seems that the YouTube link above is not available in all countries. Will post new links when available.

Apparently, this link works in various other geographies: