78-year-old Palestinian-American Omar Assad died after being detained, gagged, and bound by members of Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion.
The U.S. government has cleared foreign military assistance to go to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit that was implicated in the 2022 death of a Palestinian-American man.
Deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed at an Aug. 12 press briefing that U.S. assistance can flow to the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, following a multi-month review process.
By late April, the State Department announced it had concluded five Israeli units were responsible for past “gross violations of human rights,” but that four of those units had already taken sufficient remedial steps.
The State Department said it was taking more time to review the Israeli government’s efforts to remediate the fifth unit, the Netzah Yehuda battalion.
Addressing reporters on Aug. 12, Patel said the review process for the Netzah Yehuda battalion has continued since April, and “after thoroughly reviewing that information, we’ve determined that violations by this unit have been effectively remediated.”
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The Israeli military established its Netzah Yehuda battalion in 1999, as a specialized unit to accommodate the religious strictures of members of the Haredi Jewish community.
In that time, the Israeli military unit and some of its members have been linked to abuses of civilians.
Several Netzah Yehuda soldiers detained a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man named Omar Assad, at a checkpoint near the West Bank community of Jiljilya on Jan. 12, 2022.
Assad experienced cardiac arrest and died at some point after being detained by the Israeli soldiers, fueling allegations of abuse by his Israeli captors.
It acknowledged its soldiers bound and gagged Assad and took him to the courtyard of a nearby building along with other Palestinians.
Members of Netzah Yehuda held those detainees for around an hour before removing their restraints.
The defense force concluded the Netzah Yehuda soldiers believed Assad was asleep as they untied him, and left him there without attempting to wake him.
It said only hours later that the Netzah Yehuda soldiers noticed that Assad had died.
In its statement, the IDF concluded the Netzah Yehuda soldiers hadn’t used any violence against Assad apart from when they initially detained him.
Still, the Israeli military concluded the soldiers involved in the incident “failed in their obligations by leaving Assad lying on the floor without the required treatment and without reporting the incident back to their commanders.”
It said it reprimanded the commanders of the company and platoon involved in Assad’s death and barred them from serving in command roles for two years.
On Aug. 12, Patel confirmed that two Netzah Yehuda soldiers have left the unit and are no longer eligible to serve in the Israeli military’s reserve component.
Patel said the battalion had also enhanced its prerecruitment screening process and has conducted a two-week seminar addressing the battalion’s past conduct.
When asked whether Netzah Yehuda soldiers should be prosecuted in connection with Assad’s death and other abuse allegations, Patel replied: “That’s not for the United States to speak to; that’s a question for the Israeli justice system.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the IDF for further comment but did not receive a response by publication.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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