Israeli Family Honors Murder Victim With Scholarship

When Noa Menin arrived at her college awards ceremony in Tel Aviv this spring, she expected to receive a scholarship and shake some hands. What she didn't expect was to meet the family behind her award and hear the story that would move her to tears.

The 27-year-old special education teacher from Eilat was receiving a scholarship funded by the Alwhwah family from Lod. They created it to honor Marwan Alwhwah, a mechanic and beloved father who was murdered in 2022 during a violent family feud he had no part in.

"They gave it from the heart, and at the ceremony they had tears in their eyes," Menin told reporters. Her mother was so touched she sent flowers to the donor's mother after the ceremony.

The Alwhwah family knows firsthand the crisis facing Arab Israeli communities. Between 2020 and 2022, gun violence claimed three of their family members: an uncle, a cousin, and finally Marwan. The killers were never caught, a painful reality shared by families across Israel where 88% of violent crimes in Arab communities go unsolved.

For Usama Alwhwah, Marwan's 33-year-old son, the violence has been paralyzing. The former teacher hasn't left his house much in four years or returned to the classroom he loved, living behind heavy gates and security cameras in a Jewish neighborhood where police presence is stronger.

Yet inside that fortified home, something remarkable happened. The family chose education over revenge, hope over despair.

"My father believed in education and in love of humanity," Usama explained through tears. "We believe that through education, change is possible."

The whole family works in education. Usama's mother has been a teacher's assistant for nearly 30 years, and his two sisters teach in Jewish schools. All three siblings graduated from the same Tel Aviv teachers' college where they now fund the scholarship.

Usama himself once received an excellence scholarship as a student, where he mentored Arab students and organized the college's first Ramadan Iftar celebration. That experience taught him the power of giving, even in the darkest times.

The Ripple Effect

The Alwhwah scholarship does more than help one student each year. In a country where Arab Israelis are typically recipients of charity rather than donors, this family is rewriting the script about who gives and why.

Their choice carries extra weight in Lod, a mixed Arab and Jewish city that has seen more homicides in Arab communities than any other Israeli locality this year. By funding education instead of fleeing or seeking revenge, they're modeling a different response to violence.

Menin said receiving the award changed her perspective entirely. "For a while afterward, I wasn't even thinking about the excellence award. I was moved by the power of their giving."

That's exactly what the Alwhwah family hoped for: to honor their father while raising awareness about the violence tearing through their community, and to show that even in grief, generosity is possible.