Israeli Supreme Court forbids razing home of terrorist who killed IDF soldier

Supreme Court judges block destruction of house of terrorist who murdered IDF soldier.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday slammed a decision be Supreme Court justices to block the razing of the house of the terrorist who killed an IDF soldier, saying the judges made a “mistake.”

“An unfortunate decision of the High Court. A big mistake. Terrorism must not be allowed to take hold! I demand further discussion – and at the same time we will continue to destroy terrorist homes,” Netanyahu tweeted following announcement of the decision.

Three High Court judges ruled 2-1 to accept a petition to block the destruction of the house owned by Palestinian terrorist Nazmi Abu-Bakr from Hebron who murdered IDF soldier Amit Ben Yigal in May when he dropped a cement block on his head from the roof of the building.

As soon as the murder charge was filed against Abu Bakr, the IDF announced their intention to demolish the house from which the block was thrown, as well as the apartment where the terrorist lives in the building with his family.

However, Abu Bakr’s family petitioned to the High Court of Justice in an attempt to prevent the demolition.

Of the three judge panel, Justice Yael Willner voted to reject he petition, saying the demolition was a “necessity in order to deter further attacks.”

She was overruled by Justices Mani Mazuz and George Karra, who accepted the petition.

“It is still not possible to ignore the serious harm that this entails to his innocent family members – to them isn’t  attributed any involvement in the attack,” Mazuz argued.

Mazuz wrote in his ruling that the IDF should be allowed to seal the room where the terrorist was sleeping that night, saying that “in these circumstances I believe that in our case the principle of proportionality necessitates a mitigation of the damage, by converting the demolition into a partial sealing of the house.”

Judge Karra argued that there was no reason to destroy the terrorist’s family home by “demolishing the roof over their heads.”

Ben Yigal’s father, Baruch, lowered the Israeli flag in front of his home in protest.

“I just lowered the Israeli flag to half-mast to be seen by all the people of Israel. That I feel humiliated. The flag should not be raised on this day, it is not a good day for the people of Israel. Our IDF soldiers are pure warriors. May God preserve them,” Baruch Ben Yigal posted on social media.