Shelly Dadon () was a 20-year-old Israeli woman from the town of

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

who was murdered on 1 May 2014. Her body was found the following day by the police.

Murder and arrest

Dadon's body was found in Ramat Gavriel, an industrial area of the town of

Migdal HaEmek Migdal HaEmek (, lit. ''Tower of the Valley'', also officially spelled Migdal HaEmeq, ) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of . Migdal HaEmek was established in 1953 as a ma'abara for Jews from Arab countr ...

. According to her family, she had been on her way to a job interview on the morning of the murder. Her corpse was dumped near the location where the body of Yafim Weinstein was dumped after he was murdered in 2009. On 16 June 2014, with the gag order still in place, police arrested a 36-year-old taxi driver named Hussein Khalifa, who confessed to having driven Dadon to the industrial park and stabbed her to death. Police subsequently arrested Mohammad I'saf of the town of

Shfaram Shefa-Amr or Shefar'am (; ) is an Arab city in the Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of with a Sunni Muslim majority and large Christian Arab and Druze minorities. Etymology Palmer writes that the name meant: "The margin o ...

, the manager of the cab stand where Dadon got into the taxi, and Hamid Khalifa, brother of Husseim Khalifa. Hamid Khalifa and I'saf were later released. The matter is being handled as a security investigation. Khalifa retracted his confession, but remains in custody. On 9 July 2014, Husein Ben Yusef Khalifa (34) of Ibillin, a Galilee town, was indicted for the murder. According to the indictment, "Dadon struggled to escape and even scratched Halifa, but was not physically strong enough to get away. After his arrest, Khalifa said he picked Dadon up after he had dropped off workers in the industrial district of Migdal Ha'emek. Shelly's father dropped her at the junction at Afula Illit, where she was supposed to take a bus to her interview. She flagged a taxi to a job interview nearby, but instead Hussein Khalifa took her to a deserted parking lot and stabbed her to death.

Investigation

Most information on the investigation is not publicly known because a

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed on to any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

was placed on the investigation. Based on the investigation

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; , (GSS); ), better known by the Hebrew acronyms, acronyms Shabak (; ; ) or Shin Bet (from the abbreviation of , "Security Service"), is Israel's internal Security agency, security service. Its motto is "''Magen ...

knew Khalifa tossed Dadon's cellphone out the window as he was driving away and sometime later tossed her wallet near the Beduin village of Beit Zarzir, followed by him trying to allegedly cover up the murder by washing the blood off his cab. Shortly after the murder, several Arab youths found and used Dadon's credit card, leading to their arrest. Israeli security services originally thought the murder might have been criminally motivated due to the use of her credit cards, however they later released a statement stating that the murder was probably committed for nationalistic reasons, after security service conducted further investigation and judged it an act of terrorism.

Trial

On 3 November 2014 the trial of Khalifa began. Khalifa's defense attorney claimed the cabbie admitted to the crime under duress and requested the confession be withdrawn. As the trial began the tape of the moment police believe Dadon was murdered was played. On 9 September 2015, Khalifa was convicted of the murder of Dadon, and sentenced to life in prison. Additionally he was ordered to pay NIS 258,000 in punitive damages to the Dadon family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dadon, Shelly 2014 murders in Israel Terrorist incidents in Israel in 2014 Knife attacks in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict People murdered in Israel Deaths by stabbing in Israel Israeli murder victims May 2014 in Asia Terrorist attacks carried out by Arab citizens of Israel Female murder victims Kidnapping in the 2010s Deaths by person in Israel

Murder and arrest

Investigation

Trial

See also

References