Activist Johara Khnefess, Daughter of Shafa Amr Deputy Mayor, Killed in Car Blast

Johara Khnefess, 28, the daughter of Shafa Amr Deputy Mayor Faraj Khnefess, was killed Tuesday night in a car bombing. 

"I was heartbroken. How a man decides to kill a young woman, who was such a good girl and caused no harm to anyone," Mayor Ursan Yassin told N12. "A terrible and difficult event. People are angry and afraid. Our country needs to do more to stop this violence: It cannot continue."

Khnefess had previously spoken out against violence in Arab society, Walla reported. Her father is a prominent social activist, and her mother serves as chairperson of the Unit for the Advancement of Women in Shafa Amr.

"I didn't expect the violence to reach me. I hope the police will punish the killers," Johara's father told Ynet, adding that he cannot "digest the fact that we lost our precious daughter. I don't know what they wanted from her and why they murdered her. My daughter was the flower of the family." He went on to say that "it is usually customary for children to bury parents, but it's terrible for parents who have to bury the children first."

The initial police report came Tuesday night when fire crews arrived at the scene in Shafa Amr and found Khnefess' lifeless body shortly after the car exploded. Officers at the scene also identified an explosive device attached to the vehicle. MDA paramedics said the car was on fire when they arrived, but couldn't identify the victim at first.

Police, concluding that this was an assassination, have yet to arrest anyone in relation to the incident as of Wednesday morning, KAN reported. A Ynet report a few hours later stated that police suspect that a relative of Khnifes was involved in her death, possibly in opposition to her social activism.

Labor MK Ibtisam Mara'ana contacted the deputy mayor, expressing her condolences and stating that she "prays that Johara will be the last victim in this cycle of terror."

The Abraham Initiatives, an NGO dedicated to coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel, said that Khnefess' death is the 35th Arab crime-related death this year.