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US seeking answers after IDF shuts probe into death of detained Palestinian-American
State Department spokesman says Washington will talk to Israelis directly before drawing conclusions, notes initial IDF statement that incident showed ‘lapse of moral judgment’
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The US said Wednesday that it is seeking more information from Israel after the military said criminal charges would not be brought against an officer and a soldier over the 2022 death of an elderly Palestinian-American who was bound and abandoned at a construction site in the middle of winter.
“We’re seeking more information from the Israeli government. We’re going to talk to them directly about it,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said after being primed on the matter during a press briefing.
Omar As’ad, 78, was found dead with a zip-tie on one hand and a blindfold over his eyes on January 12, 2022, hours after he was detained for refusing to identify himself to soldiers operating a temporary checkpoint in the West Bank. Soldiers zip-tied him, took him to a nearby construction site in the freezing weather and left him there gagged and blindfolded. He was unresponsive when a soldier came back to release him and other detainees, but was not given medical attention.
Miller noted that “Israel itself stated that the incident showed a clear lapse of moral judgment and a failure to protect the sanctity of human life,” citing preliminary findings.
On Tuesday, the IDF said it had closed its cases against a lieutenant who commands the checkpoint force and a sergeant who leads the soldiers that guarded the detainees.
The IDF’s decision to close the case will likely lead to criticism from progressive Democrats in Washington who have long argued that American rhetoric alone is not enough to hold Israel accountable for alleged rights abuses in the West Bank, particularly against US citizens or using US military assistance.
The US had been quick to call for an investigation into the death in the central West Bank village of Jiljilya, but Miller carefully avoided criticizing Israel.
“We want to engage with them further about the outcome of this investigation before making any further pronouncements,” he said.
An autopsy conducted by the Palestinian Authority determined that As’as died of a stress-induced heart attack, brought on by being tackled to the ground, bound and gagged. An American citizen who had lived in the US for many years, As’ad had previously undergone open-heart surgery and was in poor health, according to his family.
Two junior officers were removed from their positions over the incident and the head of the unit, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, was formally censured.
In November 2022, the IDF summoned the lieutenant and sergeant for hearings. Indictments were considered against the pair after “irregularities” were found in their conduct, but the IDF said it was “not possible to establish a correlation between these irregularities and the death.”
A military source claimed As’ad’s family had not cooperated with the IDF investigation, including refusing to hand over medical documents that could prove such a correlation.
The Military Advocate General’s Corps notified the pair this week via their lawyers that they would face disciplinary measures but that they would not be criminally prosecuted over the incident.
Miller said the US was also reviewing the findings of a separate initial IDF probe released on Wednesday, which found that a misidentification by soldiers led them to open fire on two-year-old Mohammed Tamimi and his father, Haitham earlier this month during a military raid near the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. The toddler later succumbed to his wounds.
While one of the officers involved will be formally censured, none of the others involved in the incident, including the soldier who killed Tamimi, are expected to be charged, as indictments over operational activity are highly rare.
Last week, the US re-issued a call for Israel to probe its use of deadly force during military operations among civilians — one that it has voiced after such instances in the past.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report
