Two Arab men killed in 24 hours in suspected family conflicts

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Two men were shot to death within 24 hours in different parts of Israel over the weekend, as the death toll of violence in the Arab community continues to grow. Both suspected murders are believed to be the result of separate family disputes.

A man in his 30s was shot to death on Friday night next to his home in the southern Bedouin town of Tel Sheva. Ibrahim Nasser Abu Amra was shot on the street, and evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, where he was pronounced dead. Police have opened an investigation.

Ibrahim Nasser Abu Amra.

An 18-year-old man was shot dead on Saturday near the market in the central city of Lod. Anas Wahwaah, a resident of the city, was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car at the time, with his mother seated beside him.

Wahwaah was shot in the head and taken to Shamir Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The police believe the shooting was a murder and part of a larger feud between families. This would be Lod’s fourth murder since the beginning of the year.

Police believe that Wahwaah was shot in retaliation for the killing of Husam Musrati about three weeks ago in the city. An acquaintance of the family told Haaretz that there was an attempt to harm the teenager’s father about two weeks prior to the shooting.

Anas Wahwaah.

Wahwaah was not directly involved in the conflict, police believe, but was likely killed because he is considered an easy target. A senior police source added that the circle of victims in the family dispute is broadening, and innocent family members are being killed as well.

“He’s a good kid, quiet. His nuclear family doesn’t have any conflicts,” a friend of the family said. In his high school year book, Wahwaah was described as “an outstanding and excellent student, who volunteers a lot in the community in Lod and Ramle.”

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Since the beginning of this year, 75 Arabs have been killed in Israel in acts of violence and crime, and six have been killed by police, data from the Abraham Initiatives non-profit says. Of those victims, 11 are women, and 59 of the deaths were in shootings.

In response to the two shootings, The National Committee of Arab Mayors in Israel said in a statement: “We once again discovered that Israel is in part a state of law and in part the Wild West. The south and mixed cities have turned into battlefields which demand action and targeted treatment. We demand immediate explanations from the police commissioner as to how the police plans to act against the crime wave. Our blood cannot continue to be cheap.”