Ramle woman sustains light wounds in suspected ‘honor killing’ attempt

A woman sustained light wounds after unidentified men opened fire at her on Sunday in the Jawarish neighborhood of Ramle, in what police suspect to be another attempted “honor killing” within the Abu-Ghanem family.

Nine women were murdered in the extended Israeli Arab family in the last six and a half years.

Sara Abu-Ghanem, 40, was on her way to work on Sunday morning, when several unidentified men opened fire at her. As a result, she sustained injuries to her head and neck and was taken to hospital. No arrests have been made as yet.

Abu-Ghnaem had divorced her Palestinian husband and has recently wished to make official her relationship with a Jewish man, a fact which caused outrage in her family.

Two weeks ago, a Tel Aviv district court sentenced Kamil Abu-Gahnem to 16 years imprisonment for his involvement in the February 2007 murder of his sister, Hamda.

The continuous plight of the Abu-Ghanem women and the growing number of “honor killings” attempts by family members, meant to remove some perceived stain on the family’s reputation, brought about an unusual conference – the first of its kind – in which welfare and religious officials discussed the difficult situation in Ramle, and in the mixed Jewish-Arab Jawarish neighborhood in particular.

What is an honour killing?

An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:

refuses to cooperate in an arranged marriage.
wants to end the relationship.
was the victim of rape or sexual assault.
was accused of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey.