A principal, 49, was shot near her school in the Arab town of Arraba in Lower Galilee, northern Israel on Monday morning. She was evacuated in fair condition to Baruch Padeh-Poriya Medical Center outside T’veria.
Police officers rushed to the scene and began collecting evidence and searching for suspects in the shooting. Checkpoints were set up at the town’s exits and a helicopter is flying above Arraba to assist in the search for the shooters.
On Sunday, another Arab woman, Aisha Abadi, 55, from the northern village of Jadeida was stabbed to death. Her husband was detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder of his wife.
111 Israeli Arabs, including 15 women, have been murdered since the start of 2021.
According to the Kayan Association, 60% of the Arab women who were murdered in 2020 filed a complaint with the police about violence against them before the murder. Out of 17 investigations of women’s murders that were launched between 2013 and 2018, six did not result in indictments. In four other cases, there is still a restraining order on publicity, or the legal proceedings in the case took place behind closed doors and no information was provided about them. Regarding the indictments that have been filed, Kayan believes it is difficult to say that “justice has been done.”
MDA paramedic Amin Suaed who rushed to the aid of the woman in Jadeida on Sunday reported: “When we arrived at the scene we were joined by police forces and we saw the woman lying unconscious with stab wounds on her body. She did not have a pulse and was not breathing. We immediately began performing advanced and prolonged resuscitation operations, but were later forced to determine her death.”
The Education Ministry on Monday strongly condemned the attack on the school principal in Arraba and called on the police to turn up every stone to reach the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The ministry also stated that it closely accompanies the school principal, and provides her with all the necessary support. Also, students and teaching staff are being cared for by qualified professionals from the psychological counseling service who provide them with personal support and guidance.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope) said “the shooting of the school principal at the entrance to the school is an act that must not be ignored.”