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Israel cancels work permits for 1,100 Palestinians, relatives of terrorists

“Any Palestinian who thinks of choosing the way of terror should know that the attack he commits will critically harm his family.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israeli authorities have begun implementing a new policy in an attempt to discourage future terror attacks, Hebrew news sites reported Tuesday.

Over 1,100 work permits have been revoked from the extended families of those who have perpetrated the recent wave of attacks that began in March, killing 19 and injuring dozens.

In addition, those who did not have such a permit were informed that they would not be allowed to visit family members within the so-called Green Line, enter the Temple Mount, or receive permission for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals.

The IDF believes that such an economic and social blow, which spreads the repercussion for a terror act far and wide, may be a message that gets through to potential attackers.

“This was done after a great deal of thought,” a senior IDF officer stated. “We won’t allow the families of extremists who chose the way of terror to enter the State of Israel for employment and to do business.

“Any Palestinian who thinks of choosing the way of terror should know that the attack he commits will critically harm his family.”

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The policy extends to families of those who have been neutralized before managing to carry out an act of terror. Motasem Atallah was shot and killed by a civilian he was approaching, knife in hand, after scaling a fence around Tekoa Sunday. Now 124 of his relatives can no longer work in Israel.

Terrorist Nadheer Marzouq stabbed a policeman in the neck near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem Sunday. Some 137 work permits issued to his family members subsequently disappeared.

The clans most affected so far are those of the men who last week murdered three people in Elad and a security guard at the entrance to Ariel. A combined 421 family members will now be unemployed as a result of the attacks.

Until now, demolishing terrorists’ homes, or at least parts of their homes, was the only tactic the army has used on their families, in the belief that such a punishment would make potential assailants shy away from carrying out attacks. While decried in the international community as unacceptable collective punishment, Israel’s Supreme Court has upheld its legality numerous times.