Israeli-American peace activist Mattan Berner Kadish remembers the very first thing his good friend Awdah Hathaleen stated to him after they met in 2021: “Why are you carrying that jersey?”
“I used to be carrying an Arsenal soccer jersey,” stated Berner Kadish. “He wasn’t a fan of the staff, and I feel he was simply so shocked that an American activist even appreciated soccer.”
Berner Kadish was visiting Umm al-Khair, Hathaleen’s small Bedouin village within the South Hebron Hills with a bunch of Israelis studying Arabic and offering a protecting presence as a buffer in case of any confrontations with belligerent settlers or the IDF. It was the start of a friendship that may stretch throughout years, languages, and borders.
“Fairly shortly, Umm al-Khair turned my place, and Awdah shortly turned the conduit for my time there,” Berner Kadish stated.
They disagreed on issues typically — argued even — however that was a part of their bond.
“I instructed him what I felt, even when I knew it wasn’t what he wished to listen to. He revered that,” Berner Kadish stated. “I’ve watched his youngsters develop up. We performed soccer collectively, cooked collectively, and took journeys collectively.”
Berner Kadish and Hathaleen had not too long ago deliberate to construct a soccer discipline for the area people. A donor had pledged tens of hundreds of {dollars}; building was days away.
Hathaleen’s life was lower abruptly and painfully brief on Monday night, when he was allegedly shot at close range in the chest and killed by a settler in broad daylight close to his house. The alleged shooter, Yinon Levi, is a determine well-known to human rights screens and sanctioned by the UK, the EU, and, beforehand, the US underneath the Biden administration. Levi, who runs an unlawful farming outpost within the space, maintains that he acted in self-defense after being attacked by a bunch of Palestinians throwing rocks at him.
“I watched him die,” stated Berner Kadish, who’s staying within the village and was simply ft away on the time. “Awdah was on the ground, bleeding. He had a gunshot wound.” Berner Kadish ran towards Levi, who was nonetheless holding his weapon. “‘You simply killed somebody,’ I instructed him. He checked out me and stated, ‘And I’m glad I did it,’” Kadish alleged.
Berner Kadish stated that three IDF troopers later instructed him that they wished they’d pulled the set off themselves.
The soccer discipline, whether it is ever constructed, will probably function a memorial to Hathaleen.
A loss that transcends borders
Hathaleen’s homicide has reverberated deeply the world over, together with inside Israel’s peace and activism neighborhood and Jewish communities overseas, the place he was broadly recognized and beloved.
For a lot of Israeli and worldwide activists, Hathaleen — who featured within the Oscar-winning documentary “No Different Land,” which chronicles Israel’s demolitions within the West Financial institution village of Masafer Yatta — was the primary individual they met when visiting the area, and the one they remembered. “Should you went to Masafer Yatta, you most likely went to Umm al-Khair,” one activist instructed The Instances of Israel. “And when you went to the village, you most likely met Awdah.”
Odeh has succumbed to his wounds. Pray for the individuals of Umm Al-Kheir. Odeh was a father to three, a real chief and hero of his neighborhood, and a supply of sunshine and inspiration to all within the holy land. Could his reminiscence be a blessing. https://t.co/QiGCOHK5Ba
— Rabbis for Human Rights (@rabbis4HR) July 28, 2025
Performing as an unofficial ambassador, it was Hathaleen who greeted guests, organized delegations, translated for journalists, and instructed them about his life underneath Israeli rule — what it meant to be a Bedouin Muslim man, an English trainer, a father of three, and a believer in nonviolent resistance.
He hosted, his mates estimate, a whole bunch — and extra probably hundreds — of Israeli and Jewish activists over time, constructing shut relationships with many.
“Awdah beloved assembly new individuals and telling the story of his neighborhood. He additionally beloved studying a lot about different locations that he wasn’t capable of journey to freely. He discovered pleasure in it,” Berner Kadish stated.
“He appeared like a real gentleman, deeply dedicated to his neighborhood whereas violence surrounded him,” stated Rabbi Lev Taylor of Kingston Liberal Synagogue in England, who met Hathaleen in 2024 whereas volunteering with Rabbis for Human Rights.
“His homicide has despatched shockwaves throughout many elements of the British Jewish neighborhood, since so many had met him,” Taylor stated.
Beloved Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen was murdered two days in the past by an Israeli settler – however this isn’t a narrative of 1 loopy extremist; it’s a story of state-backed settler terrorism that’s integral a part of Israel’s system of domination within the occupied West Financial institution. (1/9)
— עומדים ביחד نقف معًا Standing Collectively???? (@omdimbeyachad) July 30, 2025
Danielle Bette, communications director at Yachad, a British Jewish group that organizes academic excursions within the West Financial institution, first met Hathaleen in 2021.
“He was at all times form, very quiet, extremely pleasant and welcoming,” she stated. “He was somebody who gave individuals hope in an space that doesn’t have a number of hope.”
Awdah Hathaleen (heart) with two of his youngsters in Umm al-Khair. (Courtesy)
Bette recalled a current tour with British rabbis wherein Hathaleen wasn’t even scheduled to talk — he was simply there to verify everybody felt protected.
“That go to had already been marked by violence — one other settler had tried to ram his automotive into our group earlier — and the time we spent in Umm al-Khair with Awdah and the children operating round was the calmest a part of the day,” Bette stated.
For Bette, Hathaleen’s openness was what made him extraordinary.
“He grew up seeing Israelis with weapons or bulldozers,” she stated. “However Awdah welcomed Israelis and Jews into his village. He confirmed them there are those that wish to pay attention, to face in solidarity. That’s not simple — and it’s to not be taken with no consideration.”
Hathaleen noticed educating youngsters as his main work, stated Bette, and used these interactions to mannequin a distinct type of resistance.
“He was displaying younger individuals that you could select nonviolent resistance by talking to individuals. And he was an instance of that,” she stated.
Hathaleen’s household had already endured a devastating loss in 2022 when his uncle, Haj Suleiman, was killed when an Israeli police tow truck ran him over. Nobody was held accountable.
1/2 Odeh Hathaleen was murdered as we speak in Um al-Kheir, following an assault by a bunch of settlers, together with Yinon Levy who was filmed capturing at a bunch of Palestinians.
Odeh warmly welcomed us into his village & spoke to many British Jews.
We’re heartbroken and offended. https://t.co/jOyRjH3LX2
— Yachad UK (@YachadUK) July 28, 2025
However regardless of that, and regardless that “he had recognized tanks, weapons and occupation all his life,” Taylor famous in a sermon that he wrote following Hathaleen’s homicide, “[Hathaleen] labored with Israelis to guard his house and construct a peaceable future.”
When Bette realized that Hathaleen had been shot, it felt surreal. “He was recognized for advocating in nonviolent methods,” she stated. “After which he was killed, shot at shut vary, within the place he had tried to guard by way of peaceable means.”
‘No person deserves this’
The aftermath of Hathaleen’s killing has solely deepened the grief and anger felt by those that knew him. His alleged shooter, Levi, was nearly instantly released to house arrest, and activists don’t have any religion that he’ll ever face any accountability for his actions.
The military has declared Umm al-Khair a closed navy zone, expelled mourners, and arrested 18 residents, principally male relations of Hathaleen. No less than 17 stay in detention regardless of not being charged with any crime. The military disrupted efforts to bury Hathaleen’s physique, demanding that the household settle for circumstances resembling limiting the funeral to fifteen individuals earlier than returning his stays.
Caravans and easy buildings for residents of the West Financial institution Bedouin village of Umm al-Khair are seen at its entrance on July 10, 2024. (AP /Maya Alleruzzo)
In the meantime, an excavator that had injured Hathaleen’s cousin the day of the capturing continues to function within the village, destroying land and water strains, Berner Kadish stated.
The perceived lack of accountability didn’t shock Bette, who believes settler violence isn’t an aberration however a each day and intensifying actuality.
“I don’t think about the system’s means to offer justice to a Palestinian who was killed within the West Financial institution,” she stated. “It’s not only a few violent thugs. There’s much less and fewer safety for Palestinians, and increasingly more strain. Entire communities are leaving — not as a result of they wish to, however due to worry, harassment, and demolitions.”
In that context, Hathaleen’s strategy was radical, stated Bette: “He selected activism by way of dialogue. In a spot continuously underneath assault by individuals who current themselves as Jewish, he was somebody who stated, ‘No, we’re going to open our houses, communicate to individuals, and construct relationships.’ That’s not a simple job to do. And he did it.”
“This shouldn’t be a left-wing subject,” she added. “This ought to be about who we’re as Israelis and what we wish our nation to appear like. We have to resolve if individuals like Yinon Levi and [Itamar] Ben Gvir are the face of Israel — or if we’re.”
“If that is what Israel has grow to be, if that is what we dreamed of for hundreds of years, you then received it. But it surely gained’t be me,” stated Berner Kadish. “This was a person of peace. This was somebody who actually, genuinely, deeply believed that issues might be completely different.”
It shouldn’t matter, lots of his mates famous, that Hathaleen was a form, mild, nonviolent, and peace-loving individual — a person who devoted his life to advocating for his neighborhood and peace for Israelis.
“It shouldn’t matter, as a result of even when he wasn’t all of these issues, no one deserves this,” stated Bette.
Awdah Hathaleen (proper) in Umm al-Khair. (Courtesy)
“I might inform you about how good he was at guilting individuals to attempt to keep an additional evening, how a lot he beloved Actual Madrid, how a lot he beloved his youngsters, how a lot he beloved to barbecue, how simply he bonded with so many individuals from so many various locations,” Berner Kadish stated. “Or how he deserved a lot extra; how sturdy and resilient he was, and the way he by no means ought to have needed to be.”
Awdah Hathaleen was 31. He’s survived by his spouse and three youngsters.
