Men in Arab society who murdered women in their families talk frankly about the social and personal background that gives rise to murder in the family. Just don't call it 'honor killings'
“One day my father asked me to come and sit with him, he and I were the only ones who were home. He said to me, ‘You know how much I think of you, trust you, love you, and now I need your help.’ Fifteen years, I don’t hear from him, and suddenly, at that moment, when he said those things, I couldn’t think about anything else. He went on, ‘Listen, we can’t bear the rumors anymore, we have to put an end to it.’ I asked him what exactly he wanted me to do. He answered, ‘Finish it, you know how.’”
I couldn’t sleep all night. I remember looking at the clock and seeing that it was 5:02. Everyone went to work, but I didn’t. My body started to shake, my hands became sweaty. I took a knife from the kitchen and went straight to her room. When it was over I changed my clothes and went to sit in the yard. My father came back after he had driven my brothers [to work], and I told him that I had done it. He asked, ‘What did you do?’ I said, ‘I killed my sister.’ He looked at me in this way, from top to bottom, and then he went to the neighbors and said, ‘The boy killed his sister.’
Editorial illustrations for the Haaretz Daily Newspaper, graphic editor Roei Regev
“One day my father asked me to come and sit with him, he and I were the only ones who were home. He said to me, ‘You know how much I think of you, trust you, love you, and now I need your help.’ Fifteen years, I don’t hear from him, and suddenly, at that moment, when he said those things, I couldn’t think about anything else. He went on, ‘Listen, we can’t bear the rumors anymore, we have to put an end to it.’ I asked him what exactly he wanted me to do. He answered, ‘Finish it, you know how.’”
I couldn’t sleep all night. I remember looking at the clock and seeing that it was 5:02. Everyone went to work, but I didn’t. My body started to shake, my hands became sweaty. I took a knife from the kitchen and went straight to her room. When it was over I changed my clothes and went to sit in the yard. My father came back after he had driven my brothers [to work], and I told him that I had done it. He asked, ‘What did you do?’ I said, ‘I killed my sister.’ He looked at me in this way, from top to bottom, and then he went to the neighbors and said, ‘The boy killed his sister.’
Editorial illustrations for the Haaretz Daily Newspaper, graphic editor Roei Regev