Israa Ghrayeb, a 21-year-old Palestinian aspiring makeup artist from Bethlehem, “died after allegedly being beaten and tortured by her brother after she posted a video on social media with a man who she was soon to be engaged to. Her brother Ihab, a Canadian resident, was reportedly angered by the video, claiming it dishonoured the family by showing her together with her fiancé before the official wedding ceremony.”
All cultures are not equal, and when cultural practices are being supported by a religion, they are more resistant to change. Israa’s murder didn’t just involve her brother. It was compounded by the involvement of other family members, too, which is characteristic of honor violence.
In the Sunni Sharia manual Umdat al-Salik, section o1.2 lists justifiable cases for murder, i.e., those for which the murderer is not to be punished. #4 specifies that a parent may kill his or her child without suffering any punishment:
- A child or insane person, under any circumstances
- A Muslim for killing a non-Muslim
- A Jewish or Christian subject of the Islamic state for killing an apostate from Islam
- father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring
In like manner in Shia Islam, the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, who was a supreme Shia religious authority, stated in his book A Clarification of Questions (Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1984, p. 429) that in order to be punished, the murderer must not be a father or grandfather of the victim.
In the case of Israa, according to the Jerusalem Post:
Israa’s father allegedly ordered her brother to beat her after relatives witnessed the footage online. During the scuffle with her brother, Israa attempted to escape the violence and fell out of the second-story of their house, causing serious spinal injuries…Without alluding to exactly what happened, Israa posted on her Instagram account that she would be unable to work for the next two months as she awaited a spinal chord operation. ‘I’m strong and I have the will to live – if I didn’t have this willpower, I would have died yesterday,’ Israa said. ‘Don’t send me messages telling me to be strong, I am strong. May God be the judge of those who oppressed me and hurt me.’…While in hospital, Israa was allegedly assaulted a second-time, with footage appearing on social media of her screaming and begging for her life during the attack.
Feminist blogger Fadumo Adan told The New Arab:
As a survivor of an honour killing, Israa’s story triggered a deeply embedded fear of mine…we live in a world where honour killing happens every single day. We experience scrutiny, close monitoring and violation of privacy and boundaries.
Yet Western feminists continue to trivialize the seriousness of Islamic honor murder, under the pretext that violence against women happens in Western nations, too. This is true, but that violence is not sanctioned by religious teaching or law; nor do such murders generally involve members of a family whose motive is to protect the honor of the family unit.
As of this writing, among the mainstream media, only the Toronto Sun in Canada has covered this case.
“#WeAreIsraa: Outrage as Palestinian woman ‘tortured to death’ in honour killing,” by Diana Alghoul, The New Arab, August 31, 2019:
Activists across the world are calling for justice for a Palestinian woman after she was reportedly killed in a family honour killing on Thursday.
Israa Ghrayeb, a 21-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem, died after allegedly being beaten and tortured by her brother after she posted a video on social media with a man who she was soon to be engaged to.
Her brother Ihab, a Canadian resident, was reportedly angered by the video, claiming it dishonoured the family by showing her together with her fiancé before the official wedding ceremony.
He was reportedly called on by their father to beat Israa after cousins of the family saw the footage online, according to social media reports.
Whilst attempting to escape her family’s violence, she fell from the second floor of their house, causing serious spinal injuries, according to media reports.
An aspiring makeup artist, she announced on her Instagram story that she had to cancel all appointments for August and September because her health wouldn’t allow her to work while she was awaiting a spinal cord operation.
“I’m strong and I have the will to live — if I didn’t have this willpower, I would have died yesterday,” she wrote.
“Don’t send me messages telling me to be strong, I am strong. May God be the judge of those who oppressed me and hurt me,” she added.
She was then reportedly assaulted a second time whilst in hospital, with video footage emerging online of her screaming during the alleged attack.
The circumstances surrounding her death are unclear, with social media reports claiming she died at home days after being assaulted in hospital.
Israa’s family have denied the accusations, and claim she died from a heart attack.
Palestinian Authority police have not made an official statement about the alleged killing….