Man seemingly attempts to murder woman, commits suicide

The incident occurred a mere five days after over 12,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv, calling on the government to fund programs battling domestic violence.

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
Updated: JUNE 6, 2020 23:26
A Magen David Adom ambulance [File] (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A Magen David Adom ambulance [File]
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A 37-year-old woman was found seriously injured in a Modi'in Illit residential building on Saturday after being stabbed, seemingly by a 40-year-old man who jumped from the building shortly after.
The two were evacuated to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer with the man suffering from multisystem trauma. The two were medicated and intubated.
Medics who arrived on the scene explained that they had initially found the man near the building, unconscious and seriously injured, but only later, when he was evacuated and other teams were sent into the apartment from which he seemingly fell, did they find the woman, also unconscious with serious injuries.
Police investigators and forensic scientists are investigating the incident, although preliminary investigations indicate that the man and woman were married and that the husband stabbed his wife several times, after which he jumped from the apartment’s balcony, attempting to end his life.
“Who is caring for the woman who may be the next victim?” said Yesh Atid-Telem MK Orly Fruman in response to the alleged attack. “Failure to address the issue indicates the distorted priorities of the government and those at its head. Violence against women is not [fate] and we must not accept the situation.”
Fruman called on the government to immediately implement the domestic violence prevention program which has been in the works in recent years.
“We are at the height of a terror wave against women,” said Hagit Pe’er, chairperson of Na’amat, the Working and Volunteering Women’s Movement. “The financial and social tensions that the coronavirus brought with it will continue to harm women in Israel, so action is needed now. I demand that the prime minister call in an emergency social cabinet meeting to reach immediate decisions.”
“The disturbing ritual of attempted murder of women returns again,” said Women’s Spirit CEO Tamar Schwartz. “Why does it reach murder? What happened to this couple in all of the preliminary stages? Ever since the prime minister’s visit to the abused women’s shelter approximately two years ago and the blowing of promises into the air, nothing was done.”
Schwartz was referring to government funding which has been allocated for a domestic violence prevention program but has not been transferred to the relevant parties.
The program was approved in 2017, but the funds have not been transferred to this day. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that NIS 50 million be transferred for such a program in December 2018, the funds were only partially transferred as the government dispersed.
“The funding that has not been transferred, the missing treatment for men, and forgiving punishment,” the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) said in a statement after the alleged domestic violence murder. “It is our duty as a society to put the treatment of domestic violence at the top of our national priority list.”
The incident occurred a mere five days after over 12,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv, calling on the government to fund programs battling domestic violence as eight women have been murdered in acts of domestic abuse since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and 10 women and an infant have been murdered since the beginning of the year.
Cases of domestic violence have risen dramatically since the beginning of the pandemic, as victims of such abuse are often stuck at home with those that harm them. The Labor and Social Services Ministry’s domestic abuse hotline 118 has seen a 122% increase in calls throughout May alone.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.


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