Awdah Hathaleen
On July 28, in the Palestinian West Bank, the activist and teacher Awdah Hathaleen was wantonly shot down by Yinon Levi, a notoriously rabid Jewish settler. Awdah had been featured in and helped produce the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, and was widely known and loved. The film tracks the struggle of Palestinians in the village of Masafer Yatta to remain on their West Bank land in the face of ongoing attacks by Jewish settlers.1
The West Bank is home to some 3.3 million Palestinians. Roughly 700,000 Israelis have settled there. Their settlements are illegal under international law. The heinous murder of Awdah Hathaleen comes as Israel, with backing from the fascist Trump regime, is escalating its violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli occupation forces and settlers have killed at least 1,000 Palestinians, including at least 202 children, and injured over 9,230 more. In recent months, more Palestinians have been violently displaced than at any time since Israel’s 1967 war of conquest and aggression. And on July 23, Israel’s parliament passed a non-binding resolution in favor of annexing (taking over) the entire West Bank.
Video from Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American peace activist, who worked with Awdah to defend his village for three years. Screengrab
According to Amnesty International, Awdah’s killing “occurred as [Israeli] state-backed settlers, accompanied by a bulldozer, were destroying a sewage pipeline and running over olive trees in Umm Al-Kheir in Masafer Yatta,” a Palestinian village.
Yinon Levi, Awdah’s murderer, is a notorious genocidal settler. He was previously under U.S. sanctions for committing international war crimes. These sanctions were lifted by the Trump fascist regime. Levi was released from custody the day after he killed Awdah, on July 29. He was then placed on just three days of house arrest. The Israeli police have yet to release Awdah’s body to his family.
Meanwhile, Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta said four of the five Palestinians arrested during the incident remained in Israeli custody.
Awdah Hathaleen was murdered before the eyes of the world. Awdah was an activist, English teacher and father of three. His brother-in-law wrote on Instagram, “They took the other half of my heart. You were always telling the story, and now you’ve become the story.”
Awdah’s murder and Israel’s ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in the West Bank are terrible crimes that must be opposed by all people of conscience around the world.
Justice for Awdah!