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During a July 14 street protest, he poured gasoline on his body and self-immolated. He suffered severe second and third degree burns over 94% of his body. He got emergency care. He was too far gone to save.
On July 20, he died. Activists and close friends were told he couldn't survive. In respect, they're sitting Shiva. It's a traditional seven-day mourning period.
An unnamed friend said he no longer would let Israel "run him over anymore." Israeli authorities killed him by neglect, oppression, disdain, and dismissiveness. They didn't give a damn. They destroyed his life, welfare, and will to live.
Close friends and family members weren't surprised by what happened. Another friend said he had "protest in his soul. He waited for it to break out and was glad when it did." He regularly attended public demonstrations and marches.
Two years ago he moved from Bat Yam to Haifa. He suffered business and health reversals. His ability to sustain himself deteriorated.
At the end, he lived in a dilapidated two-room apartment in Haifa's poor Wadi Salif neighborhood. Like Silman, others there struggle to survive.
His friends were activists. His neighbors didn't know him. His refrigerator was empty. His savings were depleted. He lost hope that anything would change. He refused to live homeless in the street.
One of his sisters said "(h)e was in despair. He was mired in debt. Until the last moment we helped him. But he didn't want it. Since the day he lost everything, the day they took everything, the house, his trucks, the money, my parents' house, he has been going downhill."
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