On July 6, 2016, the military
rejected HaMoked’s
objection against a punitive demolition order issued for a residence in Yatta, in which lived a young man suspected of having carried out an attack against Israelis in Tel Aviv on June 8, 2016. The order concerns two housing units in a three-storey building – the top floor apartment where the young man had lived, and the ground floor apartment where his parents and siblings live. The military announced it intended to demolish the two apartments using mechanical engineering equipment.
On July 11, 2016, HaMoked
petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) against the draconian demolition order and asserted that the military’s decision to demolish both the young man’s apartment and that of his parents was blatantly unbalanced. HaMoked stressed that this was a harmful sanction against family members uninvolved in the incident; and that the planned demolition jeopardizes the entire structure, including the ground floor candy factory, the family’s source of livelihood. HaMoked held that using such a damaging and irreversible method against innocent people sows further hatred and does more harm than good.
In the petition, HaMoked reiterated its demand that the state present empirical data about the purported efficacy of the punitive home demolition tool in deterring potential assailants.
