The aunt of a British woman who died in Eilat has flown to Israel in a bid to persuade police to treat the death as murder.
Julie Pearson, 38, from Kinross, in Scotland died on November 27 in Eilat after she was allegedly attacked by her boyfriend.
Amjab Hatib was questioned by police at the time but not detained.
However Ms Pearson’s family say that they were not informed of her death for four days and fear that Israeli police have ignored important evidence in the case.
Her aunt, Deborah Pearson, who speaks fluent Hebrew, confirmed to the JC that she was in Israel this week “trying to sort things out with the police”. The family want the police to open a murder inquiry.
She claimed: “We fear a whitewash because Julie was in Israel on a tourist visa which had run out and was technically there illegally.”
Hotel worker Julie moved to Israel in 2014 on a tourist visa after visiting Eilat with her father John. She tried to make aliyah, applying for Israeli citizenship on the basis that her grandmother was a Jewish woman from Jerusalem who married a Scottish soldier in 1945. However the process had not yet been completed at the time of her death.
Julie’s aunt and other witnesses allege that her boyfriend had been violent towards her in the past and that Julie had been punched and kicked several times the day before collapsing and ultimately dying of her injuries.
“Julie went to one female friend and told her that she was in terrible pain from a beating Hatib had given her the day before she died," said Deborah.
Hatib was jailed for four weeks in May 2015 for a previous attack on Julie and was questioned after her death, but released on bail.
Deborah claimed photos of Julie after her death showed her to be “covered head to toe in bruises. The full right side of her face was bruised. She had fingerprint marks round her wrist.”
She has accused Israeli authorities of not properly investigating the attack and ignoring witnesses trying to give statements. She has called upon the Israeli embassy and the UK government to support her “to find the truth”.
A statement from the Israeli embassy confirmed that deputy ambassador Eitan Na'eh met with Deborah and assured her that the embassy was pursuing the case, in the hope of resolving the investigation as soon as possible.
MP Hannah Bardell raised Julie’s story during Prime Minister’s Question’s in January. David Cameron said he would “certainly take it up with the Israeli authorities”.
Speaking to the JC on Tuesday she said: “The only update I can give you is that I've spoken with police here.”
