On the same night when sixteen-year-old Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir was abducted and murdered, another young Arab life was snuffed out. Her name was Omaima Jaradat and she made absolutely no world headlines. There are a few differences between the two cases. Pick the reason why you think you’ve not heard her name.
- She’s a girl, girls are obviously less important than boys right? [This is sarcasm for those unfamiliar with my tone]
- There is a very obvious suspect in the case (her Arab and therefore not Jewish uncle) so this is a case of an Arab killing a family member.
- Nobody really gives a s**t about Arabs slaughtering other Arabs (and especially not their female relatives). How many have been killed in Syria so far, can you be bothered to google it?
In fact the only coverage this received in English (it got brief mentions in Palestinian Arabic sources) were Jewish Press and Cherson and Molschky blog. Consider the fact that Muhammad’s murder warranted a statement from John Kerry (one that came out faster than his eventual statement after the kidnapping of Eyal, Gilad and Naftali).
So I’d like to pay tribute to poor Omaima Jaradat, sweet 16 and murdered most likely by her own family for a transgression I’m unlikely to ever find out more about. One of many girls killed every year by their families in Israel and one of thousands across the Arab world. What a pity nobody cares.
Much thanks to Magnus for help finding the images with his Arabic skills: the only sources of information on this are in Arabic.
Update: Khaled Abu Toameh via Twitter:
@EVKontorovich apparently she surprised him during robbery
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) July 2, 2014
