Israeli gov’t blasted for ‘rewarding terror,’ demolishing buildings where terror struck

IDF and police demolish structures in Homesh, just three days after yeshiva student killed in terror attack.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

IDF and Israeli police forces destroyed structures in Homesh on Sunday morning, three days after a Palestinian gunman murdered a student from the settlement’s yeshiva in a terror attack.

The news that Israeli security forces were razing structures at the site so soon after the killing sparked ire among right-wing politicians.

“The lax left-wing government decided to reward terrorism and ordered the IDF and police to eliminate the yeshiva in Homesh in response to a terrorist attack in which Yehuda Dimentman H’yd was murdered,” said Religious Zionism chair MK Bezalel Smotrich in a statement.

“They don’t demolish the terrorists’ homes, but they are demolishing the yeshiva. They will be met by thousands and tens of thousands of lovers of the land who are determined to fight this unfortunate decision and defeat them. We will all be there,” Smotrich added.

In a statement, Israel’s Civil Administration said Homesh’s yeshiva was left intact, but structures built in the last three days after the attack were bulldozed.

Yehuda Dimentman, a 25-year-old father of one, was killed on Thursday evening after an unknown assailant opened fire at a car full of yeshiva students on the outskirts of Homesh.

Homesh was officially evacuated in 2005 under then-prime minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan, but Israelis have continued studying at a yeshiva in the settlement for the last 16 years.

The terror attack sparked a massive manhunt, with dozens arrested over the weekend.

At Dimentman’s funeral, his brother, Shlomi, said their entire family had voted for Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party and were bitterly disappointed that the prime minister has not fulfilled his promises around legalizing settlements and applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

“I turn to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — there is a yeshiva in Homesh, we need to legalize it and secure it. I turn to you and ask you to allow the people of Israel to go up there,” said Dimentman’s widow, Ettya.

“The blood of Yehuda is too precious. It is impossible to return to routine after the blood of such a pure soul has been shed,” she said.