Ashams radio launches campaign against murder of Arab women

Nazareth area radio station calls on political, social, religious leaders to take active role in stamping out homicide of women in Arab society.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Magen David Adom ambulance 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Magen David Adom ambulance 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A major Arab-Israeli radio station based in the Nazareth area launched a campaign this week aimed at stamping out the homicide of women within the Arab community.
Organizers from the Ashams radio station have collected thousands of signatures on a petition calling for an end to the homicide of women within the community, adding that their goal is to gather 100,000 signatures.
“The decision was taken due to the increase in the number of murders in general, and against women, particularly in recent years – with the last incident taking place just last weekend. Six women were murdered in the Arab community in Israel since the start of the year, and 10 were murdered last year,” according to a statement by the station.
Sohil Karam, director of Ashams radio, who initiated the campaign, called on political, social and religious leaders in the Arab community and local authorities to take an active role, and gather signatures against the violence.
“We are in an era in which the whole world – and especially the Arab world – is going out to demonstrate, protest and make its voice heard. We at Radio Ashams... have our finger on the pulse of burning and painful issues within Arab society in Israel,” Karam said.
“We did not hesitate to breach sensitive topics and publicly confront negative phenomenon, even if the community and the tradition accepted them with a deafening phenomenon,” he added.
Karam said it was impossible to tolerate the “ugly phenomenon” of the murder of women within the community.
“Enough with the silence. No to the murder of women,” he added. Thousands of signatures have already been gathered in recent days, the radio station said, adding that organizers would be seeking more signatures for the next month via the station’s Facebook page, its Internet site, or its e-mail address.
Last month in Lod, 50- year-old Hadra Abu Gariba was killed in a drive-by shooting, and her husband was seriously injured.
In May, the husband of a woman brutally gunned down outside a cemetery in Lod was arrested on suspicion of her murder, as well as a previous attempt on her life six months ago.


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