Mother of four shot dead in her Haifa home with two of her children present

A mother of four was shot dead Wednesday in her Haifa home with at least two of her children present, in the latest deadly incident of domestic violence in the country and the Arab community.

There were conflicting reports on whether her children saw Maysir Othman, 27, being shot by the gunman in her apartment on Gush Etzion Street in the northern port city.

Paramedics arrived at the scene after the shooting was reported by neighbors to emergency services and were forced to declare her death on the scene. Police opened an investigation into the murder and began searching for forensic evidence.

Channel 12 news reported that Othman’s former husband, also a resident of the city, is a suspect in the case.

Local residents told the Ynet website that “people who saw him [the shooter] are afraid to talk. Everyone is keeping quiet.”

Police said that there had been no complaints of domestic violence from Othman against either her former husband or her current partner, according to the station, according to the report.

A neighbor told the Hebrew media that Othman was “a very good neighbor, quiet, and everyone’s friend.”

מייסר עותמאן נרצחה הבוקר לנגד עיניהם של שלושת ילדיה בחיפה, ובכך למעשה הפכה לחלק נוסף מסטטיסטיקה עגומה וטראגית. אסור שנשאר אדישים לתופעה הנוראית הזו ולכן בכוונתי לפעול להעלאת המודעות לסוגייה ולמיגורה! זו חובותינו המוסרית! ⁦@Wizo_Israel⁩ ⁦@NAAMATUSA⁩ ⁦@michalsela⁩ pic.twitter.com/jRNuhKe3M6

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Blue and White MK Ruth Wasserman Lande said that Othman had become another part of the “sad and tragic statistics.”

“We must not remain indifferent to this terrible phenomenon” of domestic violence, Wasserman Lande tweeted, calling for an increase in awareness of the issue and work to eradicate it.

“This is our moral duty!” she wrote.

MK Ofer Cassif of the opposition Joint List, a predominantly Arab party, said police and law enforcement authorities bear some responsibility for the woman’s death.

“Without removing any guilt from the heinous killer, we must demand accountability from the police, the prosecution, and the courts who repeatedly turn a blind eye to violence against women in general and within the family in particular,” Cassif tweeted.

“The murder of Maysir Othman in front of her children is heartbreaking,” said the Abraham Initiative, a group that campaigns against violence in Arab society.

According to the organization, eight Arab women have been killed in the community since the beginning of the year.

In total, 41 Arab citizens have been killed in the country this year due to violent crime, the group said. It noted that 25 of those who have died were under the age of 30.

The group lamented that budgeting for a national campaign against domestic violence was approved in 2018 but has so far not been properly released for use.

“In the meantime, around 20 women are murdered in Israel every year, more than half of them Arabs,” it said and noted that 45 percent of women in sheltered living are Arabs, although the community is only about a fifth of the total population.

The Abraham Initiative called for the government to “immediately fund the government plan for a campaign against domestic violence.”

“Since the phenomenon is particularly serious in Arab society, specific solutions should be given for Arab women suffering from gender violence alongside solutions to treat and prevent it among violent men,” the group said.

A state comptroller report released Wednesday found that in 2017-2020 only NIS 128 million (approximately $39 million) was provided of the NIS 300 million needed to implement the national campaign against domestic violence.

During the period of the COVID-19 outbreak a notable rise in domestic violence was recorded, the report said.

In May last year, after the country had entered a period of restrictions on public life and lockdowns that saw hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs, there was an 800% rise in reported cases of domestic violence compared to the same month in 2019.

In 2019 five women were murdered by their partners while last year the figure jumped to 13, the report said.

Earlier Wednesday police said that an Arab resident of East Jerusalem would be charged with the murder of his sister in Eilat last month and that the motive was apparently his disapproval of her lifestyle.