Police officer suspected of murdering 35-year-old wife

A 35-year-old woman was found dead in her home in Naale in the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council on Friday. Her husband, a police officer, was suspected of shooting his wife with his licensed gun and was consequently arrested by police. Magen David Adom reported that when the medics had been called to treat the victim, they were forced to declare her death.After allegedly killing his wife, the police officer had called his commanding officer and told him of his actions, according to Walla, which also claimed that the four children of the couple that had been eyewitnesses of the murder were transferred to the care of the alleged murderer’s father in Kfar Saba.”I heard four gunshots and I understood that it is not from the nearby village,” a neighbor of the couple told Haaretz. “Then my husband was called over, and we understood. We knew that there were problems between the couple. They were always fighting, but we never thought that it would reach this point.”Violence against women sky-rocketed in Israel in the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 alone, two women until now were known so far as having been murdered in acts of domestic violence.Over 20 women were murdered in acts of domestic abuse in 2020.The government agreed in 2017 to create a domestic violence prevention program with a budget of NIS 250 million. However, by the end of 2020, only NIS 50 million had been transferred towards the program. Such a program could be a lifesaver for women and children alike throughout the country.