Israelis celebrate killing of Palestinian citizen in strike from Lebanon

Israelis have taken to social media to celebrate the death of a Palestinian citizen of Israel, who was killed by a missile launched from Lebanon into northern Israel on Sunday.

Safa Awad, a 50-year-old school teacher, was killed and several others were wounded when a missile struck her home in the Palestinian town of Shfaram.

"My wife was home alone. The missile landed right inside the safe room. Sadly, we have lost a wife, sister, mother and a teacher at the school for 30 years," Awad's husband told Ynetnews.

"The war must be stopped. I now feel what people who have been hurt in the war feel."

For many Israelis, however, Awad's death was an incident to be celebrated, with some saying "she deserved it". Others expressed gratitude for the "killing of a Palestinian".

"If she's Muslim she's not interesting," one Israeli wrote on X, formerly Twitter, while someone mocked the attack as an "own goal" for Hezbollah.

"Yes, it's fun that she's not Jewish," another social media user wrote.

Meanwhile, a volunteer at Magen David Adom, the Israeli rescue service organisation, wrote, in a post that has received more than a thousand likes, that, "There is nothing to feel sorry for. She is a terrorist in every respect. She is not in our favour in any way. May her getting fucked be blessed."

Knesset member Ahmad Tibi of the left-wing Hadash-Ta'al party contacted Magen David Adom about her comment. He later wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the volunteer had been suspended from her job and is expected to face a disciplinary hearing.

"Phenomenon: Again, the same racism, the same vileness, the same human waste, the joy that the late Safa Awad was killed by a missile from Lebanon," Tibi wrote in a second post. "I already sent a letter to the attorney general a month ago. I was told that it was under review. How come no one has been detained?"

Lack of protected spaces

This is not the first time that Israelis have toasted on social media the killing of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Last month, thousands of Israelis celebrated the death of Mohammed Naim, who was killed by a missile while helping his younger brothers to enter a shelter in the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot-Tarshiha.

There were also jubilant reactions from many Israelis when a rocket launched from Lebanon killed Arjwan Manna and Hassan Suad in the Palestinian town of Majd al-Krum in October.

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"It is a real civic duty to read these racist comments. And after every comment to say out loud: this is not an extreme handful, this is the Israeli government itself," Eran Halperin, a professor of social psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote on X. 

"These are either the fascist racists themselves, or those who have chosen to normalise them. Either we vomit them out of our midst, or we become them. There is no third way," Halperin wrote. 

In Shfaram, people mourned the death of a beloved teacher in their community. 

"She was a very good woman. She taught my children at school," one resident said.

The Israel Democracy Institute reported this month that there are huge gaps in Israel when it comes to building protected spaces in Palestinian towns. Meanwhile, Jewish Israeli localities receive much more protection than their Palestinian counterpart.

Following Awad's killing, a resident of Shefa Amr told Ynetnews that Israeli authorities have not asked the town's residents whether or not they needed safe rooms, reinforced security rooms that are built across Israel, to shelter from bombing. 

"They have only built safe rooms on main streets, but we want them near the houses as well," the resident said.

Sunday's attack was not the first to hit the town. Three weeks ago, a mother and son were killed in the Shfaram area while harvesting olives.