Palestinian charged with murdering pregnant Israeli girlfriend

Israeli prosecutors charged a West Bank Palestinian over the killing of a pregnant Israeli woman, but said Sunday the murder was a domestic dispute and not nationalistically motivated.

Muhammad Harouf of Nablus was charged in Tel Aviv’s Magistrate Court with murder in the death of Michal Halimi, from the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem. Halimi was eight months pregnant at the time of her death, according to investigators.

The indictment also included charges of car theft, conspiracy to commit a crime, trading in a stolen vehicle, entering Israel without a permit, and attempted credit card fraud.

Police say Harouf and Halimi, both 29, were romantically linked, a claim denied by both Harouf and Halimi’s husband.

According to the indictment, Harouf worked in Israel without an entry permit and had maintained a relationship with Halimi for some time. In May she told him that she was pregnant.

On May 28, Harouf was working at as a cleaner and gardener in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, near the Yamit 2000 water park. That afternoon, Halimi met Harouf nearby and he lured her to a secluded spot in Holon’s Sand Dunes Park where he strangled her for 15 minutes and then dropped two concrete blocks on her head and body, the indictment said.

Harouf covered her body with dirt and a tire, stole her car and credit card and then headed to Taybeh in the West Bank.

Harouf made contact with another Palestinian suspect in the case, Atir Levisi, 20, from Tulkarem, who has told investigators that Harouf asked him to sell the car for him. Levisi sold the vehicle for NIS 2,700 ($745) and gave Harouf NIS 2,500 ($690).

Prosecutors said the defendant also tried to withdraw cash using the stolen credit card.

Harouf, 29, has told investigators he killed his victim for the sake of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and out of a desire to kill Jews. Palestinians serving time for terror-related crimes receive a monthly stipend from the Palestine Liberation Organization, while those sentenced for other crimes do not.

Halimi’s mother, Gita Zilberman, dismissed the claims of a romantic relationship between her daughter and her murderer as “lies and falsehood.”

“We maintain that this was a murder for nationalist reasons and not romantic,” she told the Hebrew-language Walla website. “The state doesn’t want that Michals’ murderer be recognized as a nationalist [motivated] murderer and that his family receive budgets and assistance from the Palestinian Authority.”

Harif’s attorney Khalil Alsana said, “We will study the indictment and respond accordingly,” the Hebrew language Ynet website reported.

Halimi was first reported missing in May.

Police said earlier that after looking into her disappearance, they determined that Halimi had left her home of her own volition in order to move in with Harouf in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

In a Facebook post, the two had announced their intention to become engaged, police said.

After learning of Harouf’s relationship with Halimi and that the two had been together in Holon on the day of her disappearance, police detained Harouf.

When Harouf gave a number of conflicting accounts of Halimi’s whereabouts, police expanded their investigation and arrested a number of suspects with whom Harouf was in contact.

They found her body on July 24.

Harouf then confessed to murdering Halimi and was brought to Holon to reenact the murder. He told police he had choked her and thrown rocks at her head before burying her body, but he denied being in a relationship with her.

In a video posted hours after police published details of the investigation, Halimi’s widower Aaron denied the police’s statements regarding the existence of a liaison between Harouf and his late wife.

He said that his family would be filing a lawsuit against the Israel Police and that “the truth and justice will come out.”