The Israeli Defense Ministry agreed to pay NIS 500,000 ($140,000) to the family of 78-year-old Omar As'ad in compensation for his death which top Israeli officials acknowledged as a ‘grave moral failing.’ This horrible crime took place one year before October 7.

 

In return, “the victim's family agreed to dismiss the claim [regarding the death that was] submitted to the court against the state,” according to the October 2022 article by the Times of Israel. The state of Israel had faced intense pressure from the US to investigate the death and bring those responsible to justice, which may explain when it agreed to make an exception by agreeing to the payment. To my knowledge, this is the first time the state of Israel compensates the family of a Palestinian killed by IDF soldiers or settlers.

 

According to the IDF, two of the officers involved were released of their duty and third one was formally censured after a sharp response from the US State Department and a meeting between US ambassador Thomas Nides and IDF Chief of Staff for an update on the investigation.

 

Omar immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s and became a small business owner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He and his wife had seven children and many grandchildren. 14 years ago, Omar As'ad decided to retire in the village of Jaljulia in Ramallah, Palestine where he was originally from. Omar was also a US citizen.

 

As Omar was driving home through his village, he was reportedly pulled out of his car by IDF soldiers who aggressively handled him, handcuffed him with plastic zip ties, gagged his mouth, blindfolded him, and forced him to lie on his stomach. Soldiers then dragged him for about 200 meters and beat him to death. The soldiers later told military investigators they thought he was asleep. That is why they did not call for an ambulance. Fish swims, birds fly, and Israelis lie!

 

According to eyewitnesses, there were about 40 soldiers who were just watching the handcuffed elderly man get repeatedly hit by armed soldiers across his entire body. As'ad suffered from a subsequent heart attack and was left to die on the ground while unconscious and handcuffed. 

 

However, an autopsy conducted by the Palestinian Authority and reviewed by the IDF determined that Omar Asaad died of a stress-induced heart attack, brought on by being tackled to the ground, bound, and gagged. Asaad had previously undergone an open-heart surgery and was in poor health according to his family.

 

Let there be no doubt that as long as Palestinians are forced to live under occupation and have their human rights violated daily by the IOF soldiers and Jewish settlers alike, there will continue to be more killing, pain, and suffering on both sides and Omar Asaad will not be the last Palestinian or Palestinian American to die.