A Palestinian activist featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” recorded his own murder by an Israeli settler. The killer was freed by an Israeli court, arguing there was a lack of evidence.
On Sunday, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a video showing the moment Awdah Hathaleen was shot and killed by Yinon Levi – filmed by Hathaleen himself. There are two additional videos that show Levi point his gun and shoot Hathaleen before he falls to the ground.
ינון לוי, המתנחל שהרג את עודה הדאלין, טען בבית המשפט שזה לא הוא. השופטת, חוי טוקר, השתכנעה, ושיחררה אותו ממעצר בית. “העדר קשר סיבתי בין הירי שביצע לבין מות המנוח”. זה בולשיט. עודה תיעד את מותו: בסרטון שמתפרסם כעת ינון נראה מכוון אליו את האקדח, יורה, והורג אותו בדם קר. > pic.twitter.com/CFATEvrRdq
— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) August 10, 2025
The director of “No Other Land,” Yuval Abraham, an Israeli, said the three videos leave no doubt that Levi murdered Hathaleen. “There is no room for doubt. Yinon Levi killed Awdah Hathaleen in front of the cameras, and an entire system of Jewish superiority turned him from a perpetrator into a victim and punished the village residents instead of punishing him,” he wrote on X.
The day after the killing, an Israeli court accepted Levi’s assertion that he was acting in “self-defense” and granted him house arrest. There is no evidence in the video that Levi was in danger.
He was then released from house arrest after a judge ruled that the evidence backed his self-defense claim.
Israel refused to give Hathaleen’s body to his family to allow for a funeral for over a week. Tel Aviv attempted to force the family to agree to limit his funeral to 15 people before giving his body to relatives. After 10 days, the Israeli High Court ordered the release of Hathaleen’s body.
Several members of Hathaleen’s family and mourners were arrested by Israeli occupation forces. Additionally, an American-Italian nurse who attempted to provide life-saving care to Hathaleen was arrested and then deported. “They don’t want people to feel comfortable helping Palestinians,” they told The Intercept.
