On December 31, 2014, the High Court of Justice (HCJ)
rejected HaMoked's petitions against Israel's decision to demolish the homes of the families of two East Jerusalem residents who had carried out fatal attcak at the the Har Nof synagogue. The court accepted the state's assertion that the demolition was aimed at deterrence rather than punishment, and ruled that in view of the severity of the assailants' acts, there was nothing to preclude the demolitions. That day, the HCJ
also rejected the general petition to compel the state to abandon the illegal practice of punitive house demolition in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), including annexed East Jerusalem, filed by HaMoked and other human rights organizations.
At 3:00 a.m. today, July 1, 2015, Israeli police forces arrived with soldiers to one of the assailants' family home in Jabel Mukaber. The security forces removed the family and its belongings from the house. The windows and doors were sealed with steel beams. At around 11 a.m., the entire house was sealed with concrete. Thus, six innocent people – the assailant's parents and his four siblings – have been left without a roof over their head.
HaMoked reiterates yet again its principled position that the acts of punitive house demolition and sealing constitute unacceptable and prohibited collective punishment, perpetrated in violation of international law and contrary to the fundamental principle of Israeli jurisprudence that no one must be punished for the actions of others.
It should be noted that aside from sealing the assailant's house, Israel has been pursuing additional punitive measures against his family. Additionally, on November 25, 2014, the Minister of Interior revoked the Israeli stay permit of the other assailant's widow (whose family home is still slated for demolition), a mother of three children who are Israeli residents, who had been undergoing family unification in Israel since 2009. On November 30, 2014, HaMoked
petitioned the HCJ against the authorities' intention to deport the woman from Israel. A hearing in the petition is scheduled for July 22, 2015.
