Assad Assad says he and his society really feel betrayed.
However greater than that, the Palestinian American mentioned his first response to the USA govt’s resolution to proceed investment an Israeli military unit that sure his aged uncle and left him for useless may well be summed up in one agreement: “devastation”.
“We see this [as] hypocrisy — a US government that allows a foreign entity to have this opportunity to kill,” Assad, 36, informed Al Jazeera in a telephone interview from his house within the climate of Wisconsin.
“They murdered my uncle in cold blood. My uncle was not armed, was not…,” he endured, his tone trailing off. “He was just going home from a night with his friends, his cousins, playing a card game.”
Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American, died in January 2022 then he used to be detained via Israeli squaddies at a checkpoint in his house village of Jiljilya, alike Ramallah within the i’m busy West Locker.
He used to be pressured out of his automotive and later gagged, blindfolded and dragged at the grassland, in line with observer accounts and his society. He used to be unresponsive and the warriors left him out within the chilly at a development web page with none support or hospital therapy.
An post-mortem nearest discovered that he had died of a middle assault “due to the external violence he was exposed to”.
His dying induced usual condemnation, and the Assad society and Palestinian rights advocates in the United States have known as on President Joe Biden’s management to habits an free investigation and safeguard Israel is held responsible.
The ones yelps grew louder then the Israeli military mentioned in 2023 that squaddies concerned within the incident were disciplined however none would face felony fees.
In April of this 12 months, the United States Condition Branch mentioned it used to be taking a look into whether or not to sanction the Israeli army battalion that had detained Omar Assad — the Netzah Yehuda Battalion — which is infamous for abuses within the West Locker.
However latter time, the section mentioned Secretary of Condition Antony Blinken had aspiring that problems with Netzah Yehuda were “remediated” — and the unit may proceed receiving US govt investment.
“My cousins and my uncle’s wife don’t want to speak to the media. They are just distraught, and they don’t want to be around any of this because it’s unbelievable,” mentioned Assad, Omar’s nephew. “It’s unjust. It’s just hypocrisy.”
Trend of impunity
The Biden management’s resolution to proceed investment Netzah Yehuda comes amid a surge in Israeli army and settler violence in opposition to Palestinians within the i’m busy West Locker below the silhoutte of the rustic’s struggle within the within sight Gaza Strip.
Just about 600 Palestinians had been killed via Israeli forces and settlers within the West Locker between the beginning of the Gaza struggle on October 7 and August 12, in line with the actual figures from the United International locations humanitarian affairs place of job (OCHA).
However Palestinians within the i’m busy territories have confronted many years of Israeli climate violence.
Additionally they have arise in opposition to what rights teams describe as a machine of “endemic impunity” for squaddies and settlers interested in assaults in opposition to Palestinians.
Omar Assad used to be now not the primary — or the one — American citizen killed via Israeli squaddies who nearest refrained from felony fees.
Simply months then the 78-year-old’s killing, in Would possibly 2022, the Israeli military fatally shot famend Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh within the northern West Locker town of Jenin.
In any other contemporary case, in January of this 12 months, 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq, who used to be born and raised in the United States, used to be killed within the West Locker village of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya when an off-duty Israeli police officer and an Israeli settler opened hearth.
Each households are nonetheless searching for justice and responsibility for the killings in their family members.
Ahmad Abuznaid, government director of the United States Marketing campaign for Palestinian Rights, mentioned, “It’s frustrating to see the United States not only have a lack of care for Palestinians, a lack of care for international law, but an unwillingness to enforce US law.”
The USA Leahy Regulation, as an example, prohibits support to overseas army devices that dedicate abuses.
Abuznaid informed Al Jazeera there’s a double usual at play games in American overseas coverage: The USA govt handiest reserves full-throated outrage for anti-Israeli movements, however now not anti-Palestinian ones.
“When the Israelis commit a whole genocide [in Gaza], when they kill Shireen Abu Akleh or Omar Assad, the United States is concerned. When the Israelis can point to something that the Palestinians have done, it’s immediately condemned,” he mentioned.
That residue alerts that “the US government views Palestinian people as disposable”, Abuznaid added.
“Their foreign policy has been shaped around an all-out support for Israel, no matter what. And this clearly puts US foreign policy at odds with Palestinians who bear the brunt of Zionism and are currently bearing the brunt of the US-Israel war machine’s genocide.”
‘Palestinian lives do not matter’
That’s a sense shared via many that knew Omar Assad in my opinion.
Othman Atta is the chief director of the Islamic Folk of Milwaukee, the United States town the place the 78-year-old had lived together with his society for a few years ahead of retiring in Jiljilya.
A attorney via career, Atta mentioned he helped Omar together with his society companies. Atta additionally would see him at social occasions within the Milwaukee section, which is house to many households whose roots exit again to Jiljilya.
Atta mentioned the United States govt’s resolution to proceed investment Netzah Yehuda sends a sunny message “that in the eyes of the US government and US officials, that Palestinian lives do not matter, even if they happen to be carrying US citizenship”.
That, coupled with Washington’s persuaded army and diplomatic backing of Israel then 10 months of a gruesome struggle in Gaza, has shaken him.
“We actually see a genocide taking place. We see people are being starved. They are being denied water. They are being bombed into oblivion [with] no regard for any human life,” Atta informed Al Jazeera.
“And yet we cheer [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu in Congress. We send billions of dollars in aid,” he mentioned. “It’s very difficult to fathom the depths of hypocrisy, of hatred against Palestinians and innocent people in Gaza. It really shakes you to the core.”
‘We need to find justice’
The USA Condition Branch didn’t reply via e-newsletter future to Al Jazeera’s request for remark at the resolution to proceed investment Netzah Yehuda, or to grievance that the go fails to safeguard responsibility in Omar Assad’s dying.
In a remark shared via media shops latter Friday, Condition Branch spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned Washington had reviewed knowledge equipped via Israel and aspiring that violations via the unit had “been effectively remediated”.
Because of this, below US regulation, Netzah Yehuda may proceed receiving support, Miller mentioned.
However for Assad Assad, Omar’s nephew, the verdict isn’t the top of his society’s push for justice.
He described his uncle as a major guy who on the identical future would by no means move up a prospect to comic story round and create everybody snigger. “He was serious, but he was always funny with everything he did,” Assad informed Al Jazeera.
“He was a good man that raised a large family. He has grandchildren and sisters and brothers that loved him dearly. His nephews all missed him,” he added.
“We need to find justice for my uncle.”