Our right to live

07/07/18

We are here fighting for our lives, no man has the right to end our life. We demand that the police stop treating us like the enemy, and start guaranteeing our basic right: security!” That’s what Zahiya Kundus, a Zazim member and feminist activist, said yesterday outside the Jaffa police station. Zahiya opened a campaign on our site “Zazim in the Community” calling on the police to stop abandoning women and to take domestic violence and murder of women seriously, and 3,000 Zazim members joined her call. Yesterday, Zahiya and dozens of activists went to the Jaffa police station to deliver the thousands of signatures directly to the officers responsible. This is what it looked like: IMG_2909Zahiya started the campaign following the murder of Samar Khatib, a Jaffa resident who was murdered in broad daylight and in view of cameras, only a day after a bomb was found in her car and her life threatened. Now the police are delaying the investigation - and her murderers are still at large! Samar is not the only one: dozens of women are murdered every year, and police statistics show that many of them actually lodged complaints and warned that their lives are in danger, but the police systematically ignored their call and refused to provide protection.Zahiya and the thousands of Zazim members refuse to stay silent any longer. Yesterday we took the fight straight to the police to explain the obvious fact: if you don’t persecute the murderers and refuse to protect women in danger - the murders will continue.The action yesterday was another important step in the fight against domestic violence and the murder of women. The police continue to make excuses for the murderers, citing “cultural differences” or “family honor,” rather than working to provide security for women. But our community is not backing down and will fight to force the police to do their job and protect the lives of women. We refuse to stand by as women’s very lives are at stake, and the next murder is around the corner.