The police arrested two residents of Lod today (Wednesday) on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Rabab Abu Siam, the 30-year-old resident of the city who was shot after being threatened by her ex-husband for months. The two are also being investigated on suspicion of being involved in another murder, that of Alaa El Sokh, who was shot dead this week in the city.
Abu Siam, a mother of three and a primary school teacher, was shot to death in front of her daughter at the end of July in the yard of her home. Four months before, she divorced her partner. Her daughters and parents were at home at the time of the incident, and saw a masked man dressed in black clothing shoot at her several times and flee the scene in a white vehicle, which was later found burned in a wadi in the area.
Amina, Rabab’s mother, said yesterday in an interview with Network B that she had no choice but to hand her granddaughters over to foster care: “The police abandoned us, welfare abandoned us, for three months we don’t sleep, we don’t eat, we live in a situation of threats and shootings.”
“We have been promiscuous since the murder,” Abu-Siam continued. “I am in a country where there is no security. And don’t tell me that shelter is security.” As for the decision to hand over the granddaughters, Abu-Siam added that she came to the decision out of necessity. “I can’t find any help from the outside. Let’s see what welfare will do with this. Who will raise the girls? Who will watch over them? I’m not handing them over because I want to hand them over. I’m handing them over because he (the father) is suffocating us.”