Friends --
Omar Assad was 78 and walked with a cane. Still, his family said whenever he was in the room, he was the life of the party.
Born in the British Mandate of Palestine, Mr. Assad ran a grocery store in Milwaukee and lived in America for 40 years, becoming a US citizen in the 1980s.
In 2009, he moved back to retire with his wife in his hometown of Jiljilya in the occupied West Bank. Three weeks ago, he died after being detained at an Israeli military checkpoint.
Soldiers dragged Mr. Assad from his car in the early hours of the morning, leaving him bound, blindfolded and gagged at a cold construction site. When he was eventually untied, he was slumped and non-responsive.
The soldiers abandoned Mr. Assad without seeking medical aid, later telling investigators they thought he was asleep. Witnesses said Mr. Assad was left blindfolded on his stomach, that he was not breathing, and that his face had turned blue. An autopsy found he died of a stress-induced heart attack.
Add your name to urge the Biden Administration to thoroughly investigate Mr. Assad’s death and Israel’s treatment of Palestinian civilians >>
For Palestinian civilians, arbitrary arrests, excessive force and deaths at the hands of Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank are distressingly and unacceptably frequent. Accountability and consequences for those responsible are very rare.
In this terrible case, involving an American citizen, diplomatic pressure is making a difference.
An internal IDF investigation resulted in professional suspensions for the officers involved, with a report finding the incident to be “grave and unfortunate” and a result of “moral failure and poor decision-making.” Yet no systemic changes were recommended -- and given the appalling nature of what happened to Omar Assad, and the fact that it was not an isolated incident, this hardly feels sufficient.
Importantly, the US State Department is now pushing for a more comprehensive criminal investigation to ensure a measure of justice and accountability for Mr. Assad’s grieving family. And from the state of Wisconsin, Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congresswoman Gwen Moore have called on the US government to launch its own investigation into reports that conflict with the IDF’s version of events, and to investigate whether US laws may have been violated in this incident. This is critically important Congressional leadership, and we are proud to echo and support it.
At J Street we strongly support the push for greater accountability and justice. Along with elected representatives from Omar Assad’s home state, we’re urging the US to investigate whether the nature and method of Mr. Assad’s detention are common practice in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and whether US-supplied military equipment is used in such instances contrary to US law, Palestinian rights and Israel’s own true security interests.
Read, sign and share our letter to the US government >>
As an American, Mr. Assad deserves the justice due to any US citizen harmed abroad. As a Palestinian and a human being, he deserves accountability from those who violated his most basic rights.
As supporters of peace, equality and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians, we must stand up to the oppressive and all too often deadly occupation that tramples on the rights of civilians, fuels the conflict and obstructs hopes for a better future. We must insist that our government face up to and investigate the harmful realities on the ground and work tirelessly to change them -- for the sake of both peoples and our own democratic values.
Thank you, sincerely, for your attention to this.
Yours,
Dylan Williams
Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy
