Monday, January 7, 2019

Woman Stoned in the West Bank

Biddya is a town in the northwest West Bank,
32 km southwest of Nablus,
where Aysha al-Rabi lived.

Last October 12, 2018, Aisha Rabi and her husband drove from the town of Biddya (pop. 8,000) in the West Bank near Netanya to visit their married daughter in Hebron and to prepare for the wedding of another daughter, Salam, 23 years old.

As they were driving home, with her in the passenger seat, a gang of young Ultra-Orthodox settlers attacked them with stones, killing Aisha.

The Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency, arrested three of the suspects on Saturday, Dec. 29, and two more this past week. Their names have not been released because all five are minors, students of the Pri Haaretz Yeshiva in Rehalim.

After interrogating the teens, Shin Bet released information about the case on Sunday, January 6, 2019.

Aisha was the mother of nine children.  Her 10-year-old daughter was with her mother and father in the car and watched her mother die.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders do not allow women to drive.  In this case, she wasn't even driving, just a passenger vulnerable to hatred of Palestinians living in the West Bank.  See HuffingtonPost.com/2015/05/29/hasidic-ban-women-driving_n_7469744.html

Shin Bet arrests many Palestinian terrorists but rarely arrests Jewish terrorists.

Aisha's husband said, "[a]ll we want at this stage is to put this affair behind us. We want to move on with our lives."

Aisha's brother was killed hours before his wedding in 1999.

Notes:




2 comments:

Rev Emily said...

Here is a link to the recent article of the October event. The authorities are taking a hard stand on the youths involved.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/07/682875564/israel-arrests-5-teenage-suspects-in-fatal-stoning-of-palestinian-woman

Anne Linstatter said...

Thanks, Emily. I added your link to the blogpost and also reviewed coverage since January. I wish someone would do a follow-up now.
--Anne