On October 3, 2015, the military announced its intention to demolish the ground floor of the house in which lived a young man suspected of perpetrating a stabbing attack at a railway station in Tel Aviv in November 2014. The suspect lived with his parents in the ‘Askar refugee camp in the Nablus district, in a two-storey building containing two apartments.

Following the issuance of the demolition order, on October 7, 2015, HaMoked filed an objection to the military’s decision to completely demolish the family’s apartment, located on the ground floor of the house. HaMoked stressed that the family’s involvement in the act had not been proved; moreover, that the investigation suggests that the family members had tried to make the suspect change his ways, to which they were strongly opposed; the evidence material indicates that “the young man lost his will to live due to the awful relationships he had with his parents and siblings, and his isolation by the family”. Therefore, HaMoked claimed, it would not be a reasonable or proportionate measure to demolish the entire apartment – a sanction that would mainly victimize the suspect’s parents and siblings. Instead, if the military intended to carry out the demolition, it should restrict itself to damaging only the room in which the youth lived.

HaMoked further argued that the military’s timing for issuing the demolition order – done in connection with an attack that occurred almost a year ago – was not coincidental and sought “relentless damage and extraneous considerations of sheer vengeance”, following the series of attacks that occurred recently.

If the objection is rejected, HaMoked intends to petition the High Court of Justice.