Na'am Arab Women in the Center were among the organizers of the "Death March" protest staged on Sunday, Aug. 6, in Tel Aviv. Dozens of women from the organization participated.
Many dressed in white, and young men bore white coffins -- 140 of them for the 140 Palestinian citizens of Israel who have been murdered so far this year. Each coffin was inscribed with a name, and what that person might have become, had they lived. Others marched with pictures of those murdered.
Around 5,000 participated in the march from Tel Aviv's Habima Square. The message has reverberated throughout Israeli society, but Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir had no response. While he rails against protesters who exercise their legal right to defend democracy, the police continue to neglect the very real problem of crime in the Arab community. Murders remain unsolved, and murders walk free.
"Our blood is on your hands," read some of the signs. Other simply said, in Hebrew and Arabic, "Life."
Samah Salaime, director of Na'am adds:
The participants were sisters, mothers and daughters grieving for women who have been murdered in the past decade in Ramla and Lod. They came despite the pain and tears to march -- to demand justice for murdered women and their children, and to cry our againts the impotence of the police in the face of organized crime.
In the photo, Salaime hugs the Hayam, sister of Siham Zbarka, who is today a university graduate, a counselor for girls and an activist againt the murder of women.
Photo credits: Gal Mosenson