High Court majority approved punitive demolition in the West Bank and thus condemned a toddler, her four siblings and mother to lose their only home

On March 6, 2023, a majority of the High Court of Justice approved the punitive demolition of a family home, where the assailant who committed a fatal attack against Israelis on November 15, 2022 had lived.  The three-story house in Haris village was home to the assailant’s mother and his five siblings, the youngest two-and-a-half-years old, none of whom are suspected of involvement in the attack.

The judgment, written by Justice Canfy-Steinitz, laconically dismissed HaMoked’s principled arguments, that this was prohibited collective punishment implemented pursuant to revoked Mandate-era regulations. In rejecting HaMoked’s argument regarding the doubts surrounding the alleged effectiveness of punitive demolitions for the purpose of deterrence, the Justice wrote that she trusts the security officials’ opinion that this is an effective measure, and added that “this opinion is commensurate, to my mind, with life experience, which shows that most people consider the welfare of their family members”. Justice Vogelman also supported leaving the demolition order intact “given the existing precedent”, while recalling his customary position that it would be “appropriate” for an expanded panel of the Court to revisit the principled issue. 

In the minority, Justice Baron held that given the fact that the family members had not been involved in or aware of their relative’s deed “and did not even show support for his actions after the fact”, then the punitive order was disproportionate and should be cancelled. She clarified that the family’s stance constituted a vital consideration without which it was impossible to determine whether the punitive order was proportionate. She also reiterated her grave doubts concerning the alleged effectiveness of this measure for deterrence, stressing that there is a substantive difficulty in assessing the measure’s effectiveness as well as the degree to which “it acts in the opposite direction: increasing acts of violence and hate against Jews”.