Friday, March 14, 2008

Honorable People

Honor killing, that symbol of barbarism and depravity, is still alive and well, so to speak, among Israel's Arab population. The young woman in the story that follows is a divorcee who was shot because she was seen being "friendly" to men:

Police investigators noted that the attempted murder was meticulously planned. The youth had informed his family members that he was going to murder his sister early Tuesday morning, and then set off to do just that. He headed to the entrance of the village in a vehicle which he had borrowed from his brother, and awaited his sister's arrival. The youth then shot his sister, who was startled to see him and proceeded to kick her repeatedly in order to ensure that she was no longer alive.

Chief Superintendent of the Afula Police Department, Orli Malka, stated that "the young woman was clever enough to play dead so that her brother would stop kicking her." The shooter than called MDA medics and phone the police emergency hotline. "I just shot my sister," he said, all the while keeping vigil over what he assumed was his sister's lifeless corpse. The young man than informed his family that he had shot his sister and was warmly greeted, hugged and congratulated by his brother and other family members.

Since all cultures are equally worth celebrating it may reveal a woeful lack of tolerance and sensitivity to point out that in Western societies we usually save our congratulations for those who have done something kind or beneficial to the larger community, or who have achieved some distinction in a field of endeavor. Since I don't wish to appear so churlish I won't belabor the point. I'll just mention that in some cultures congratulations are apparently merited for rather less lofty accomplishments.

Lest you think this is merely an isolated incident there are links at the story to two other recent cases of honor killings in Arab-Israeli families. In one family eight women have been slain in the last six years. In another family the figure stands at seven. If we want to look for a silver lining in this, we might note, I suppose, that it's good that Arabs are so concerned about honor.

Why is it, though, that the least honorable people seem often to be the most obsessed with preserving their honor? In our own cities you can get shot for simply appearing to "diss" some marginally human thug, but even these neanderthals don't slaughter their own sisters just because they socialize with men.

HT: Hot Air

RLC