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Terror victims’ next-of-kin demand demolition of killer’s family home

The family of three terror victims has petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to approve the complete demolition of the family home of the terrorist who murdered their loved ones.

By: Yona Schnitzer/TPS

In July, Omar al-Abed, a Palestinian terrorist infiltrated the home of the Salomon family in Neve Tzuf and stabbed the residents, who were in the middle of a Friday night Shabbat meal. Yosef Salomon (70), and his children Chaya (46) and Elad (36) were killed in the attack, and Yosef’s wife Tovah was wounded.

In addition to murder charges, Israeli authorities have also demolished the section of the assailant’s family’s home in which he was living – a common Israeli response to terror attacks. But the family has asked the court to approve the complete demolition of the home.

Ordinarily, both Israeli and international law prevent collective punishment against the families of terrorists. However, the Salomon family asserts that since Omar’s family knew of his intention to carry out an attack, a fact that was proven in court last August, the entire family home should suffer the same fate as the section in which Omar resided.

“We came to court today to ask to destroy the house of the terrorist,” Michal Salomon, the widow of Elad who was murdered in the attack told Tazpit Press Service (TPS). “It is an important step against terror,” she added.

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“Michal came to show the judges that behind the debate there are faces, there’s a tragedy, and they have to help us prevent the next murder,” Dan Landau, Michal’s father also told TPS. “We came here to prevent the next family from [experiencing] the misery and the agony that my daughter has,” he added.