Assad Assad says he and his household really feel betrayed.
However greater than that, the Palestinian American stated his first response to the USA authorities’s determination to proceed funding an Israeli military unit that certain his aged uncle and left him for useless might be summed up in a single phrase: “devastation”.
“We see this [as] hypocrisy — a US authorities that enables a overseas entity to have this chance to kill,” Assad, 36, instructed Al Jazeera in a telephone interview from his dwelling within the state of Wisconsin.
“They murdered my uncle in chilly blood. My uncle was not armed, was not…,” he continued, his voice trailing off. “He was simply going dwelling from an evening together with his pals, his cousins, taking part in a card recreation.”
Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American, died in January 2022 after he was detained by Israeli troopers at a checkpoint in his dwelling village of Jiljilya, close to Ramallah within the occupied West Financial institution.
He was pressured out of his automotive after which gagged, blindfolded and dragged on the bottom, in response to witness accounts and his household. He was unresponsive and the troopers left him out within the chilly at a development web site with none help or medical care.
An post-mortem later discovered that he had died of a coronary heart assault “as a result of exterior violence he was uncovered to”.
His dying prompted widespread condemnation, and the Assad household and Palestinian rights advocates within the US have referred to as on President Joe Biden’s administration to conduct an impartial investigation and guarantee Israel is held accountable.
These calls grew louder after the Israeli military stated in 2023 that troopers concerned within the incident had been disciplined however none would face legal expenses.
In April of this yr, the US State Division stated it was wanting into whether or not to sanction the Israeli navy battalion that had detained Omar Assad — the Netzah Yehuda Battalion — which is infamous for abuses within the West Financial institution.
However final week, the division stated Secretary of State Antony Blinken had decided that points with Netzah Yehuda had been “remediated” — and the unit might proceed receiving US authorities funding.
“My cousins and my uncle’s spouse don’t wish to converse to the media. They’re simply distraught, they usually don’t wish to be round any of this as a result of it’s unbelievable,” stated Assad, Omar’s nephew. “It’s unjust. It’s simply hypocrisy.”
Sample of impunity
The Biden administration’s determination to proceed funding Netzah Yehuda comes amid a surge in Israeli navy and settler violence in opposition to Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution below the shadow of the nation’s conflict within the close by Gaza Strip.
Almost 600 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces and settlers within the West Financial institution between the beginning of the Gaza conflict on October 7 and August 12, in response to the most recent figures from the United Nations humanitarian affairs workplace (OCHA).
However Palestinians within the occupied territories have confronted a long time of Israeli state violence.
Additionally they have come up in opposition to what rights teams describe as a system of “endemic impunity” for troopers and settlers concerned in assaults in opposition to Palestinians.
Omar Assad was not the primary — or the one — American citizen killed by Israeli troopers who later evaded legal expenses.
Simply months after the 78-year-old’s killing, in Might 2022, the Israeli military fatally shot famend Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh within the northern West Financial institution metropolis of Jenin.
In one other latest case, in January of this yr, 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq, who was born and raised within the US, was killed within the West Financial institution village of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya when an off-duty Israeli police officer and an Israeli settler opened hearth.
Each households are nonetheless looking for justice and accountability for the killings of their family members.
Ahmad Abuznaid, govt director of the US Marketing campaign for Palestinian Rights, stated, “It’s irritating to see the USA not solely have an absence of take care of Palestinians, an absence of take care of worldwide legislation, however an unwillingness to implement US legislation.”
The US Leahy Regulation, for instance, prohibits help to overseas navy items that commit abuses.
Abuznaid instructed Al Jazeera there’s a double commonplace at play in American overseas coverage: The US authorities solely reserves full-throated outrage for anti-Israeli actions, however not anti-Palestinian ones.
“When the Israelis commit an entire genocide [in Gaza], once they kill Shireen Abu Akleh or Omar Assad, the USA is anxious. When the Israelis can level to one thing that the Palestinians have accomplished, it’s instantly condemned,” he stated.
That distinction alerts that “the US authorities views Palestinian individuals as disposable”, Abuznaid added.
“Their overseas coverage has been formed round an all-out help for Israel, it doesn’t matter what. And this clearly places US overseas coverage at odds with Palestinians who bear the brunt of Zionism and are at present bearing the brunt of the US-Israel conflict machine’s genocide.”
‘Palestinian lives don’t matter’
That’s a sense shared by many who knew Omar Assad personally.
Othman Atta is the chief director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the US metropolis the place the 78-year-old had lived together with his household for a few years earlier than retiring in Jiljilya.
A lawyer by occupation, Atta stated he helped Omar together with his household companies. Atta additionally would see him at social occasions within the Milwaukee space, which is dwelling to many households whose roots return to Jiljilya.
Atta stated the US authorities’s determination to proceed funding Netzah Yehuda sends a transparent message “that within the eyes of the US authorities and US officers, that Palestinian lives don’t matter, even when they occur to be carrying US citizenship”.
That, coupled with Washington’s unwavering navy and diplomatic backing of Israel after 10 months of a devastating conflict in Gaza, has shaken him.
“We really see a genocide happening. We see persons are being starved. They’re being denied water. They’re being bombed into oblivion [with] no regard for any human life,” Atta instructed Al Jazeera.
“And but we cheer [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu in Congress. We ship billions of {dollars} in help,” he stated. “It’s very troublesome to fathom the depths of hypocrisy, of hatred in opposition to Palestinians and harmless individuals in Gaza. It actually shakes you to the core.”
‘We have to discover justice’
The US State Division didn’t reply by publication time to Al Jazeera’s request for touch upon the choice to proceed funding Netzah Yehuda, or to criticism that the transfer fails to make sure accountability in Omar Assad’s dying.
In a press release shared by media retailers final Friday, State Division spokesman Matthew Miller stated Washington had reviewed data offered by Israel and decided that violations by the unit had “been successfully remediated”.
Because of this, below US legislation, Netzah Yehuda might proceed receiving help, Miller stated.
However for Assad Assad, Omar’s nephew, the choice just isn’t the tip of his household’s push for justice.
He described his uncle as a critical man who on the identical time would by no means go up an opportunity to joke round and make everybody snicker. “He was critical, however he was all the time humorous with all the things he did,” Assad instructed Al Jazeera.
“He was a superb man that raised a big household. He has grandchildren and sisters and brothers that cherished him dearly. His nephews all missed him,” he added.
“We have to discover justice for my uncle.”