Partial demolition of Barkan terrorist’s home sparks father’s anger

The IDF destroyed part of the home of the terrorist who killed two Israelis at the Barkan Industrial Park in early October. 

By World Israel News Staff

Two and a half months after the terrorist Ashraf Na’alowa killed Kim Levongrond-Yehezkel and Ziv Hajabi at the Barkan Industrial Park on Oct. 7, the IDF destroyed part of the house in which the killer lived in the village of Shweika near Tulkarem.

Rafi Levengrond, the father of Kim, expressed his anger at the partial destruction of the house on Monday, Maariv reports.

Mr. Levongrond said he demanded the complete destruction of the home, and not just the part where the terrorist lived, because the family of the killer had been involved in the attack, the paper notes.

Mr. Levongrond also said that he wasn’t asked to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike the family of Ziv Hajabi.

“I tell the truth. They aren’t comfortable listening to me,” Mr. Levongrond said, according to Maariv.

Mr. Levongrond has been outspoken in his criticism of the government and in his calls for stronger action against terrorists following the brutal killing of his daughter.

He said at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs committee on Oct. 31, “My daughter was bound and executed. She was not killed in a regular attack. And when the military people think about what to destroy for the terrorist, think about what she thought in the last few seconds.”

Others criticized the IDF response. Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said, “This is how ‘the demolition of the terrorist’s house’ looks. A joke of the work, a joke of deterrence. The legal system prevents the State of Israel from deterring murderers. It’s immoral.”

The destruction of terrorists’ homes has been a subject of much debate in Israel in recent months with the families of victims calling for their immediate destruction while others say that the method is not effective in deterring attacks.