High school teachers to halt work for 25 minutes Wednesday over murdered women

Teachers in high schools throughout Israel will halt work for 25 minutes Wednesday in protest of ongoing violence against women and the government’s failure to curb murder rates, their union announced.

The Secondary-School Teachers’ Association was responding to a call by the organizers of last week’s women’s protests for daily 25-minute strikes, to represent the 25 women killed in domestic-related violence since the start of the year.

“As teachers and educators, and as those leading the fight against violence towards teaching staff, we cannot stand by,” said Ran Erez, head of the association.

Teachers will halt work between 10 a.m. and 10:25 a.m.

On Tuesday 29-year-old Iman Awad was found in a home in Acre with her throat slit. Though police are still investigating the case, female activists have said they believe she is the 25th victim of domestic violence in 2018.

רצח האישה בעכו | בעלה של אימאן עווד נעצר ונחקר, אך הוא אינו חשוד במעורבות ברצח @10elilevi pic.twitter.com/UI8LPAlgmV

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“The number of victims in the past year just went up to 25,” protest organizers said in a statement. “Our blood is not cheap. We will no longer put up with committees and inquiries and promises and words. We will not be silent while decision makers try to placate the protest with talk. We demand action now.

“We plan to continue with daily actions that will be impossible to ignore. Starting tomorrow, every day at 10 a.m., we [women] all stop everything for 25 minutes! Every day, we stop on the roads, stop work, stop in the street. Until the government heeds our demands.”

Last week thousands of women went on strike and tens of thousands rallied across the country to protest women killed by a partner, family member, or someone known to them, and what they say is the authorities’ failure to stem a sharp increase in violence against women.

A day after the protests Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he considers violence against women a form of terrorism and vowed to allocate funds to fight it.

The protests capped a week of smaller demonstrations prompted after two teen girls were found murdered on November 26.

Yara Ayoub, 16, was found dead in her Galilee hometown of Jish, three days after she went missing, according to police. Authorities have identified the primary suspect in the murder as a 28-year-old man from the village, and have arrested several others suspected of involvement.

Hours later, Sylvana Tsegai, 13, was found murdered in her Tel Aviv home, allegedly by her mother’s former partner Tesfebarhan Tesfasion, who evaded police for several days before being caught. Police reportedly suspect she was also sexually assaulted. According to reports, Tsegai had been known to welfare authorities as a victim of domestic violence. She reportedly called police on Saturday to complain about Tesfasion being in her home.