'Boycott a Killer': Palestinian women activists launch anti-femicide campaign after murder in Israel

A women’s rights coalition has launched an anti-femicide campaign after the killing of 28-year-old Johara Khanifs on Tuesday in a Palestinian town that lies within Israel’s 1948 borders.

Palestinian Women Against Violence (FDA) announced the "Boycott a Killer" campaign following the death of Khanifs after a bomb attached to her car exploded in Shefa-Amr (known as Shafaram in Hebrew).

The coalition, which was founded in 2020, comprises 22 women’s rights groups operating throughout historic Palestine.

There has been an ongoing wave of violent crime in Palestinian communities inside Israel in recent years.

Khanifs is the 35th Palestinian citizen of Israel to be murdered this year. Palestinian citizens of Israel are far more likely to fall victim to crime than their Jewish counterparts and suffer systematic discrimination.

While they make up just over 20 percent of Israel's population, they account for over 60 percent of all murder victims.

"We have reached a new low within [1948] Palestinian territories with the killing of Johara Khanifs," a Facebook post from the FDA said.

"Johara was an activist against violence and her voice was loud against the crimes which take lives in our community but the criminals silenced her with this explosion and murder. Such savagery is unimaginable."

Layan Direini, a member of the FDA coalition, said that the campaign had been planned for some time but its launch had unexpectedly coincided with the killing of Johara.

"In the absence of criminal accountability, popular boycotts are a solution, especially in light of organised crime against women," Direini said.

In a statement, the FDA called on Palestinians within Israel's 1948 borders to "take on their responsibilities regarding deadly violence against women, which is ongoing with no deterrent, and boycott murderers of women and criminals generally".

"Let social isolation be the deterrent... in light of the failure to seriously implement laws protecting women and the family," they said.

Palestinians within Israel have long accused Israeli police of turning a blind eye to crime within their communities.

A 2021 report by the Haaretz newspaper said that only 23 percent of murders within the Palestinian community were solved by Israeli police as compared to 71 percent of murders within the Jewish community.