Social Media, A Pressure Tool To Achieve Justice.. Israa Gharib Is A Model

Madrid- Social media played an important and pivotal role in raising the issue of the murder of the 21-year-old Palestinian women, Israa Gharib, on the 22nd of August 2019; under mysterious circumstances, amid accusations of her murder, prompting the Palestinian Authority to open an investigation a week after her death. 

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Ishtiyeh declared in a press statement on Facebook that:

“Israa Ghraib has become a public opinion case, we feel the anger of the street towards this issue with our full commitment to

the provisions of the Palestinian law and the confidentiality of investigations and we must not rush in judging people to respect her soul and her family’s feelings.

But we have to strengthen the system of legislation that protects Palestinian women, who are the protectors of our national
project. 

They are our mothers, sisters and partners in the struggle and construction. Without them, we would not have become a society”. 

The case of Israa Gharib

The case of Israa Gharib sets a precedent on how the ruling authority deals with public opinion issues after extensive
interaction with Israa on Palestinian, Arab and even international social media. 

Prime Minister Mohammad Ishtiyeh’s announcement of opening an investigation was via Facebook, carried out using the
#Esraa-Ghraib trendy hashtag on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

It could be argued that for the first time, social media is a center of pressure and strength on the security services and official
bodies to reveal the truth behind the killing of Israa Gharib, which is a positive development in dealing with Social Media.

After this big chaos, Gharib’s family turned to Facebook to broadcast live videos to talk about her case and the reasons for her
death. They claimed that the cause of her death is unknown and that she was being treated with Ruqia ” Quran over the patient. 

They hinted in another broadcast that she is haunted by jinn, as her brother-in-law Ahmed Safi pretended.

In the Media

As some of the media began interviewing the victim’s family, the family confirmed that everything that has happened with their
daughter was caused by “jinn”; this increased the pressure and anger of the publicity on social media who refused to deal with such justifications.

The statement of the Mufti of the Palestinian security forces, Sheikh Mohammed Salah was noteworthy, he stated that “The Fatwa Circle has prevented and warned the sheikhs, since 1997, of reciting Quran whether in mosques or houses on people who claim that they are haunted by jinn.”

Department of legitimacy Roquia, “describing it as” fake and fraud “.

He continued: “In the case of the murder of Israa Gharib, in both cases, if killed based on honour or as they claim to be dressed
in jinn and proven, it’s considered a premeditated murder and the perpetrators will be punished. 

Absence of women’s organizations

 The issue of dealing with the killing of Israa has shown other negative aspects.

Most importantly is the absence of many local women’s institutions from previous issues like Israa’s, whether it is a killing,
arrest or abuse because of sex. 

Many questions are raised about the silence of women’s organizations in the background of past violations by the Palestinian
Authority or the Israeli authorities, such as arresting women and subjecting them to investigations without lawyers. 

The most prominent of these cases was what happened with the detainee Alaa Bashir, who was arrested by the Palestinian
Authority, then released to be arrested the next day by the Israeli authorities.

 

At the official Palestinian level, public opinion has undoubtedly prompted the Palestinian Authority to arrest a number of those
accused of killing Israa Gharib despite more than 10 days since her death.

which raises real questions about the seriousness of the PA to trial the accused in similar cases or murders on the background
on honour. 

Abolishing the law of mitigation 

Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas passed a law abolishing any mitigating sentences against those accused of
honour killings in 2018, this did not come into force for no apparent reason. 

After the issue of Israa Gharib became a public opinion issue, circulated in various news sites, it is put on the Palestinian
Authority to implement the law issued by Abbas.

In addition to announcing the results of the investigation of the case to the public, considering that the credibility of the
Palestinian security services is highly questioned by many, especially in similar cases, such as the “eyebrow tweezers” issue.