Shifting tides: Growing US sympathy for Palestinians reflects changing global attitudes on Israel

Times are changing attitudes and not in Israel's favour. Changes in public opinion are even being registered in Israel's intimate ally, the US where 21 per cent of adults sympathise with Palestinians as compared to 31 per cent with Israelis. Twenty-three per cent registered equal sympathy for both. A second telling result is that 35 per cent supported decreasing and 15 per cent increasing US military aid to Israel. While the percentages are not large, these results were a major gain for Palestinians since a poll conducted by Economist/YouGov seven years ago.

Change has come due to global news coverage of Israel's constant crack-down on Palestinians resisting the occupation of the West Bank and of Israel's ongoing onslaught on Gaza following the October 7th, 2023, raid into Israel by Hamas which killed 1,200 and abducted 250. While the raid shocked and traumatised Israel and its foreign allies, the Netanyahu government's massively disproportionate response shown live on satellite television has finished off Israel's traditional impunity from censure. Friends have been transformed into critics and Israeli and international human rights organisations have charged Israel with war crimes. The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Therefore, today's political climate is very different from that when filmmakers Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi made "Five Broken Cameras" which documents the destruction by the Israeli army of Burnat's cameras during five years of Friday demonstrations in the West Bank village of Bil ‘in. The villagers were protesting the destruction of olive groves and the construction of a barrier which cut off farmers from 60 per cent of their land. The film won multiple international awards and was nominated for an Oscar but did not win.

Changes in attitude has been reflected in this year's award of the Oscar for the best documentary to "No Other Land." The film is about West Bank Palestinians who refuse to leave a cluster of 19 villages in Masafer Yata which the Israeli army declared a free-fire zone in 1981. The prime mover, star and co-director of the film is Basel Adra who, at seven years joined protests against Israeli demolitions. On one occasion he witnessed his father's arrest. At 15, Adra began to film Israeli assaults on his phone and post material on social media, becoming an online journalist. Israeli journalist Yuval Abrahim met Adra when covering an Israeli operation to enter Masafer Yatta, evict villagers and bulldoze their homes. Both men write for the Israeli online publication Local Call (+972 Magazine in English). The two became partners in making “No Other Land” by collecting footage of events between 2019 and 2023 in the Masafer Yatta target area. They recruited local farmer Hamdan Ballal as cinematographer and Israeli Rachel Szor as editor.

Since 1967, the Masafer Yatta villages have been under Israeli occupation. Under the 1993, failed Oslo peace process, the area was designated as part of the 60 per cent of the West Bank under full Israeli and civil control. The inhabitants of the cluster are largely Bedouin, farmers and herders who Israel, claims, are nomadic and, therefore, can be compelled to evacuate. To compel them to leave, the Israeli army fills Palestinian wells with cement and bulldozes dwellings, animal shelters, schools, and infrastructure. Israel argues they do not have building permits which are impossible for Palestinians to obtain. In early 2023, the Israeli army served eviction notices on 1,000 residents of the area and offered an alternative location where they could reside. The Israeli rights group B’Tselem responded: “Forcible transfer of protected persons in occupied territory is a war crime. Therefore, the Israeli ‘offer’ of an alternative is meaningless. It is a violent threat that leaves the residents with no choice.”

B'Tselem wrote, "Israel’s notice that it intends to carry out the expulsion follows years in which the state took various measures to make the residents’ lives intolerable, driving them to leave their homes ostensibly of their own free will. Among other things, Israel prohibited these communities from hooking up to power and water grids or constructing homes and public buildings, restricted their movement and enabled soldiers and settlers to threaten their lives and property on a daily basis."

On February 10th, 2025, Adra wrote on the +972 website, "Throughout the making of “No Other Land'.. one question persisted: Will anyone even watch this? Will anyone care?" His fears were unfounded. "From the moment the film premiered in Berlin last hear, the answer became clear. Thousands of messages of solidarity, inquiries about how to watch it, and invitations from around the world proved that there was an overwhelming appetite to hear our story. And last month, it was even nominated for an Oscar." 

This month, "No Other Land" won despite the refusal by major distributors in the US to show the film in cinemas across the country. To qualify for the Oscars, the film was shown for a week by the Lincoln Centre in New York City. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported 100 per cent of 90 critics' reviews as positive, with an average rating of 8.9/10.

Hours ahead of the Oscars award ceremony, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported Israeli settlers, protected by Israeli troops, attacked Masafer Yatta, threw stones, destroyed property, and arrested four Palestinians.