Motaz Malhees, one of the stars of director Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” shared on Thursday that he will not be in attendance at the Academy Awards this Sunday because of the U.S. travel ban on Palestinians.
The film, which is nominated for Best International Feature, documents the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl during the Gaza War. Malhees stars in “The Voice of Hind Rajab” as a call center operator desperately trying to help young Hind Rajab as she is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza. However, despite his central role in the film, he has been prevented from attending this year’s Oscars by President Trump’s Palestine travel ban.
“Three days left to the Oscars. Our film ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ is nominated for an Academy Award. I had the honor of playing one of the lead roles in a story the world needed to hear. But I will not be there,” Malhees wrote on Instagram. “I am not allowed to enter the United States because of my Palestinian citizenship.”
In December, Trump expanded an existing travel ban, barring — among others — people with Palestinian Authority passports from entering the U.S. Reflecting on that, Malhees wrote Thursday, “It hurts. But here is the truth: You can block a passport. You cannot block a voice.”
“I am Palestinian, and I stand with pride and dignity. My spirit will be with the ‘Voice of Hind Rajab’ that night,” his post concluded. “Good luck to all of you. Our story is bigger than any barrier, and it will be heard.”
Malhees is not the only person associated with “The Voice of Hind Rajab” who will not be in attendance at the Oscars. Rajab’s mother Wissam Hamada is also barred from entering America right now. She did, however, attend the BAFTAs last month in honor of the film.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” director Kaouther Ben Hania, who is Tunisian, is expected to be in attendance in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Trump’s travel ban originally extended to those with passports from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It was expanded in late 2025 to also include passports from the Palestinian Authority, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.