Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees said Donald Trump’s travel ban is preventing him from attending the 98th Oscars on Sunday, where his film, The Voice of Hind Rajab, has been nominated.
Malhees, 34, stars in the harrowing drama from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania about a five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who, along with her family and the EMTs who tried to save her, was killed by Israeli forces in 2024.
However, because of his Palestinian citizenship, Malhees said he is “not allowed to enter the United States.” In December, the president instituted an expansive travel ban that restricts entry for people with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents.
“Our film The Voice of Hind Rajab was nominated for an Academy Award. I had the honor of playing one of the lead roles in a story the world needed to hear,” the actor wrote Thursday on Instagram.
“But I will not be there,” he said. “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.”
Malhees continued: “I am Palestinian, and I stand with pride and dignity. My spirit will be with the Voice of Hind Rajab that night. Good luck to all of you. Our story is bigger than the barrier, and it will be heard.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Numerous fans and peers stood in solidarity with Malhees. “Your work in the film and the film itself are both incredible and will live on forever,” Oscar-winning British actor Riz Ahmed commented. “Sending much love and respect.”
The Voice of Hind Rajab is up against The Secret Agent (Brazil), Sentimental Value (Norway), Sirāt (Spain) and It Was Just an Accident (France) for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars.
Starring Malhees as Omar, a Red Crescent volunteer who stays on the phone with Rajab, the critically acclaimed film reconstructs the young girl’s final moments and intersperses re-enactments with raw audio from the call. Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury and Amer Hlehel also star.
Rajab was a five-year-old Palestinian girl who survived the initial 2024 attack by Israeli tanks on their car that killed the rest of her family and phoned emergency services for help. Over a period of more than three hours, she begged for help as she waited in the car that her family was using to try to escape the war zone. Paramedics did arrive, but days later, their ambulance was found destroyed near Rajab’s car.
In a recording of her call, Rajab is heard sobbing and saying, “Please come to me, please come. I’m scared,” while gunfire rings in the background.
“A film like this had to be made because too often the news reminds us of facts we forget and sometimes shows us a world that has been denied the power to speak. The voice of this five-year-old girl, Hind, is ultimately that of Gaza asking for help,” Ben Hania remarked at the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
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