Israeli soldiers will not be prosecuted for the death of an elderly Palestinian-American man who stopped at a checkpoint, was dragged out of a car, tied up and blindfolded and then stopped lying on the ground overnight after suffering a heart attack, apparently as a result of his rough treatment.
Palestinian leaders had called for the Israeli soldiers who arrested 80-year-old Omar Assad at a makeshift checkpoint in his hometown of Jiljilya on the West Bank to be prosecuted in an international court.
The Israeli military lawyer — the highest judicial body of the Israeli army — stated in a statement on Sunday that the soldiers involved would only expect disciplinary action.
A Palestinian autopsy revealed that Assad, a former resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States, had a history of heart problems and suffered cardiac arrest caused by stress. Palestinian officials attributed this to the fact that he had been abused by Israeli soldiers
According to an Israeli military investigation, Assad died in January 2022 after the Israeli forces handcuffed him with a cable tie, temporarily gagged him, blindfolded and left him on the cold floor because, they claimed, he refused to identify himself when they stopped him at a checkpoint as he drove home late at night.
Investigation also revealed that the Israeli soldiers assumed that Assad was sleeping when they cut the cable that tied his hands and did not offer medical help when they saw that the 80-year-old was unresponsive. They then left Assad lying on the ground without checking whether he was still alive. He was later found dead early in the morning, with a plastic zipper that is still around
According to Israeli investigators, the soldiers were forced to restrain Assad because of his “aggressive resistance.” Assad’s family had expressed skepticism that the behavior of a sick 80-year-old could justify such harsh treatment
On Sunday, the Israeli military acknowledged the soldiers’ misconduct and stated that their actions “were not in line with what is required and expected of the Israeli military.”
However, the decision not to prosecute the Israeli soldiers involved was made “after the hearings and after a thorough review of the investigative materials, which suggested that no causal link was established between the mistakes in the soldiers’ conduct and [Assad’s] death,” the Israeli military attorney general said in a statement.
According to the statement, an Israeli military medic said it was impossible to establish that Assad’s death was due specifically to the soldiers’ behavior and that the soldiers could not be aware of the 80-year-old’s health status.
Two commanders would be dismissed and not allowed to hold high-level military positions for two years, the military said. One of the commanders would be “reprimanded,” according to the Israeli military, without further details, the Associated Press reported
News that Israel would not file charges in the case did not surprise Nawaf Assad, Omar’s brother, who lives in Virginia, in the USA.
“Israel kind of gets away with whatever it wants,” he told the AP.
“It is still clear to us that the soldiers acted criminally.
A report by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, based on military data from 2017 to 2021, found that Israeli forces were prosecuted in less than 1 percent of the hundreds of complaints filed against them for alleged crimes against Palestinians.
In rare cases where soldiers were convicted of harming Palestinians, military courts imposed extremely lenient sentences, which “shows the reluctance of military law enforcement agencies to take appropriate action against crimes committed by soldiers against Palestinians,” the group said.
Assad was one of two US citizens killed by Israeli forces last year — along with CNN Breaking News journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
Both cases caused outrage in Arab-American communities because US President Joe Biden’s administration failed to hold Israel accountable and continued to support the country unconditionally.
“It’s not just that Israel sees two classes of American citizens, it’s also the case that the US treats us as separate classes of citizens [when] they don’t give us the same protection,” James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute think tank, told CNN Breaking News last month.
“We all deserve equal rights. We are not the children of a lesser god,” he said.
The US State Department, which often says it is no higher priority than the safety of US citizens abroad, called last year for “a thorough criminal investigation and full accountability for Mr. Assad’s death.”
“We continue to follow this case closely with the Israeli government,” the State Department told CNN Breaking News at the time.
American Muslims for Palestine, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group, said in a social media post on Sunday that “a criminal government cannot be trusted to prosecute its own crimes. #OmarAssad.”
According to the Israeli investigation, it is impossible to drag an 80-year-old man out of his car, brutalize him and leave him for dead. It is precisely for this reason that a criminal government cannot be trusted to prosecute its own crimes. #OmarAssad https://t.co/FhZceCkrMH
— American Muslims for Palestine (@AMPalestine) June 13, 2023
“According to the Israeli Investigation, Dragging an 80 y/o Man from His Car, Brutalizing Him and Leaving Him for Dead Couldn’t Have Possibly Led to His Death,” the Group said.
