A Trump administration ban prevents this Palestinian actor from attending the Oscars and he hopes his film speaks for itself

Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees gets emotional just thinking about two lines from his film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” the Oscar-nominated docudrama about the desperate plea of ​​Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, to aid workers in Gaza before she was killed by Israeli forces.

Malhees, who listened to actual recordings of Rajab’s call while she was trapped inside a car that was reportedly attacked by an Israeli military tank, said he experienced a panic attack upon hearing Rajab say he was in “butterfly class” at preschool.

“That hit me deep in the heart,” Malhees said in an interview with News.

Another phrase caught his attention: Rajab said that his loved ones in the car, probably dead and covered in blood, were “sleeping.”

The actor said the two moments “destroyed” him as he listened to Rajab’s call through an earpiece on set. It gave him more fuel to help share the 5-year-old’s story with “every cell” in his body.

“Put your child there and think about history: drop all the flags, all the names, everything. Put your child there. This is abnormal. We are in a time where the world really needs to move and do something,” he said. Malhees of Israel’s devastating US-backed offensive in Gaza that has fueled a humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.

Courtesy of Watermelon Pictures/Watermelon+

Malhees, who plays Palestinian Red Crescent emergency operator Omar Alqam, is part of the all-Palestinian cast of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s film, nominated for Best International Feature Film at Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Filming began less than a year after Rajab and his cousin called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society after the two, along with their relatives, tried to flee Gaza City when an Israeli tank sprayed bullets into their vehicle, killing most of their loved ones, according to a report. detailed analysis by Forensic Architecture.

After her cousin was killed, the 5-year-old girl remained on the line as rescuers tried to reach her and take her to safety.

Rajab was found dead in the car weeks later. Two paramedics also died, likely at the hands of Israeli forces, while trying to rescue her in an ambulance, according to Forensic Architecture.

The film captures Rajab speaking to Alqam, who, in real life, was raising a newborn baby at the time.

“He couldn’t play with it or hold it for a couple of months,” said Malhees, who is now friends with Alqam.

“He told me he felt disconnected from his son, disconnected from his wife.”

The actor credits his emotional conversations with Alqam, whom he describes as a “hero,” for playing an important role in his portrayal of the emergency worker on screen.

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