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A PALESTINIAN ACTOR whose film is nominated for an Academy Award has said he will be unable to attend the Oscars ceremony tonight because of US President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
Motaz Malhees, who stars in The Voice of Hind Rajab, said he is barred from entering the United States because he holds only a Palestinian passport.
In a post on Instagram on Thursday, Malhees said it was painful to miss the ceremony but insisted the film’s story would still be heard.
“Three days left to the Oscars. Our film The Voice of Hind Rajab is nominated for an Academy Award. I had the honour of playing one of the lead roles in a story the world needed to hear,” Malhees wrote.
“But I will not be there. I am not allowed to enter the United States because of my Palestinian citizenship. It hurts. But here is the truth. You can block a passport. You cannot block a voice.”
The film, directed by Franco-Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, has been nominated for best international feature film.
It dramatises the final hours of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024 along with members of her family and two ambulance workers who attempted to rescue her.
Rajab had been trapped in a car after an Israeli army tank shot their vehicle, killing Rajab’s aunt, uncle, and three cousins.
The only other survivor, Rajab’s 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh, called the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for emergency aid, before she was killed under the sound of machine gun fire
Hind Rajab then spent hours on the phone with dispatchers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society pleading for help.
A Washington Post investigation later found Israeli armoured vehicles were operating in the area at the time and that gunfire heard on the recordings was consistent with Israeli weapons.
The Israel Defense Forces has claimed that its forces were not present near the vehicle and denied involvement.
In the 2025 Oscar-nominated film, actor Malhees plays a call centre operator trying to guide rescuers to the child.
“Our story is bigger than any barrier,” Malhees wrote on Instagram. “And it will be heard.”
In a December proclamation restricting entry of certain foreign nationals, Trump said he had determined to “fully restrict and limit the entry of individuals using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority”.
The restrictions came into force on 1 January, according to the US State Department.
Malhees said other Palestinian members of the film’s cast would be able to attend the Oscars because they hold additional citizenship.
Rajab’s mother, Wissam Hamada, also cannot travel to the United States but told reporters that she will watch the ceremony from Greece, where her family has been granted asylum.
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