Nadwa Sarandah (pictured) is a Palestinian woman whose sister — known to Palestinians as the ‘Angel of Jerusalem’ — was murdered in east Jerusalem in 1999. Sarandah is currently touring the US, alongside an Israeli whose son was killed by a Palestinian sniper.
On Sunday (5/22), the Santa Cruz Sentinel described the pair before their local appearance that evening:
Six years ago, a Jewish settler in Jerusalem stabbed Palestinian Nadwa Sarandah’s sister to death. A few years later, Israeli Robi Damelin lost her 28-year-old son when he was killed by a Palestinian gunman along with nine other people.
It was these horrific events that brought the two women together. (emphasis added)
Yet there’s absolutely no evidence that Sarandah’s sister, Naela, was killed by ‘a Jewish settler’. In fact, a Palestinian man has confessed to the crime, and Nadwa Sarandah has herself testified that she merely suspects that a Jew committed the murder, and that the Palestinian man was forced to confess.
This error has been acknowledged by the former mayor of Santa Cruz, Scott Kennedy, who is the current Mideast Coordinator at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz — host of the local event. When HR subscriber Becky Johnson contacted him regarding the matter, Kennedy wrote:
Dear Becky:
Thanks for bringing this error to my attention.
The error on my part was brought to my attention this morning by Nadwa Sarandah. I had already spoken with the reporter about a correction earlier this afternoon.
The mistake was entirely mine, not Nadwa’s. I have heard her speak a half dozen times and in no instance has Nadwa Sarandah claimed that her sister was killed by a Jewish settler.
Yet the Santa Cruz Sentinel article remains just as is was, and there’s no correction posted on their website.
HR has contacted SC Sentinel editors, requesting these two actions.
