Once again Israel’s High Court hits a new low - by Ruthie Blum

...the Supreme Court is not supposed to base its rulings on the political bias of its judges. Sadly, however, many of these consider it not only their job to overturn government moves that they oppose, but their moral imperative to do so. Justice for the likes of Ben-Yigal and every other Israeli who daily risks his/her life for the country doesn’t seem to come into the equation.

Ruthie Blum..
JNS.org..
11 August '20..

The ruling by Israel’s High Court of Justice against the home demolition of Palestinian terrorist Nizmi Abu Bakr is the latest example of judicial overreach based on political bias. Abu Bakr confessed to and was indicted on charges of murdering 21-year-old Israel Defense Forces’ Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal on May 12.

Ben-Yigal, a member of the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion, was one of the soldiers involved in a raid on the Palestinian Authority-controlled village of Yabad in Samaria to apprehend four suspected terrorists. After completing their mission at around 4:30 a.m. on May 12, the troops began to exit the village on foot.

At this point, approximately one dozen residents of the area began pummeling them with bricks and cinder blocks from surrounding rooftops. Abu Bakr targeted Ben-Yigal, making sure to hit him at an angle from which his protective helmet would be of no use.

The 49-year-old terrorist’s aim at the young Israeli’s head was impeccable. Though Ben-Yigal was administered first aid on the scene, he was pronounced dead on arrival at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.

He was the first IDF soldier to be killed in action in 2020, and was promoted, posthumously, to the rank of Sgt. First Class. He was killed a mere month before the end of his military service.

Hundreds of mourners attended his funeral some 14 hours later, weeping as his distraught divorced parents eulogized their son separately.

Calling him “mommy’s hero,” his mother, Nava Revivo, wept bitterly as she bid him farewell.

“My eldest child, beloved child,” she wailed. “Your sisters can’t comprehend what’s happening. We will keep your ember burning, your happiness, your love.”

His father, Baruch, who has no other children, bemoaned having given his son permission to serve in a combat unit—something that the IDF demands from parents of only children and from those who already lost sons or daughters to war or other tragedies.

“I signed [the permission slip] with this hand,” his father cried. “You told me, ‘Dad, don’t deny me this.’ I signed it and you celebrated as if you’d just won the lottery. You were supposed to bury me, not the other way around. God in heaven, give me a reason to wake up tomorrow morning.”

When the Shin Bet revealed that Abu Bakr had been arrested for and confessed to killing Ben-Yigal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that was ordering the IDF to demolish the terrorist’s home.

Enter left-wing NGO HaMoked, which promptly filed a petition on behalf of Abu-Bakr’s family against the home demolition.

(Continue to Full Column)

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Lost deterrence thanks to the High Court, and those who pay the price are the terrorist victims and their families. - by Lital Shemesh

...As the Midrash says, he who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate. When will the government realize this? Demolishing the homes of terrorists is not just punishment and revenge; it is a way of preventing similar terrorist attacks in the future.

Lital Shemesh..
Israel Hayom..
02 January '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/lost-deterrence-thanks-to-the-high-court/

The slaughtering of the Salomon family members in Halamish last July will be remembered for many years to come. A terrorist killed three family members and wounded another woman. He wanted to kill everyone who was present in the home, including children, but was stopped.

Last week military prosecutors asked that the killer be given three consecutive life sentences for the murders and another life sentence for the attempted murders. At the sentencing hearing, the terrorist could be seen flashed a wide smile for the cameras. He is now going to get tens of thousands of shekels from the Palestinian Authority. His home is still standing, because the state has decided to destroy only one floor so that the rest of his family members would not be affected. But let's not forget that five of his family members were convicted of being an accessory to a crime because they failed to act despite knowing his plan.

The Salomon family petitioned the High Court of Justice and asked that the rest of his family home be demolished, but their request was denied. Yes, his family members should be treated with compassion despite his attempt to destroy an entire family, but we should also show compassion for future victims of terrorism.

Under Israel's emergency statutes, the military can demolish structures where terrorists had resided. Former Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein once wrote: "The defense establishment has shown that there is indeed a good reason to believe that such action does, in fact, deter terrorists from carrying out similar activity and the supporting evidence is overwhelming compared with other indications."

But the High Court of Justice has for years chosen to walk down a different path, imposing many restrictions on using this measure. This has undercut the state's deterrence and its efforts to fight terrorism.

From "proud of murderous son" to "I'm a victim" to "boy is innocent"

...a pretty good indication that the prospect of home demolitions can potentially save lives.

Abu Adham (left)

Elder of Ziyon..
19 January '16..

As soon as Israeli security announced that they had found Morad Bader Abdullah Adais, the teenage murderer of Dafna Meir, the terrorist's father Abu Adham said "Morad was the attacker, and I am proud of him."

A few hours later, after he was told that Israel might demolish his home, he said to Channel 2 that had he known about his son's actions, he very possibly might have turned him in. He also asked, “Why should I be punished for what the kid did?”

Now he is changing his story again,...

(Read Full Post)

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Will Media Acknowledge the Truth? Another Myth About Israel Debunked

...When Haaretz reports something, despite its well-known truthfulness deficiency, the leftist media abroad picks it up. (Haaretz is not a newspaper for Israelis but rather for foreign correspondents.) That means the New York Times will be among the first to broadcast it, especially if it’s critical of Israel’s security establishment, and regardless of its accuracy. That can (and will) persist even after initial stories get debunked, which is why the Western reporting on Israel is so unimaginably terrible. Will the Times stop referencing the now debunked narrative on housing demolition? Whether they do will indicate if there is still any room at all for the facts in the paper’s reporting on Israel.

Seth Mandel..
Commentary Magazine..
10 December '14..

“Israeli security forces revived a controversial antiterrorism policy,” the New York Times reported in November, “demolishing the East Jerusalem home of a Palestinian man who plowed his car into pedestrians last month, killing a baby and a young woman.” Anyone who follows the conflict knew precisely what they were going read, without a doubt, at some point in the article. And sure enough, Times reporter Jodi Rudoren gets there eventually: Israel halted “the widespread practice in 2005, when a commission found that it rarely worked as a deterrent.” For a decade, this claim has been used against Israel. And now we know it’s false.

In an important piece on the issue on Monday, Yishai Schwartz explained how this narrative took hold:

The problem is, the commission conducted no serious study of the demolitions’ effects, and the latest evidence actually points in the opposite direction. The 2005 Times article on which much of the subsequent coverage seems to have been based is itself an overstatement of a contemporaneous account in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. But Haaretz made no claims about conclusive findings, simply stating that the military committee recommended ending the program and referencing a general, preliminary “study of the first 1000 days of the conflict” from 2003 that merely stated, “as of today, there is no proof” of effective deterrence from the demolitions.

The ineffectiveness trope was just simple enough for the media to understand. Schwartz explains that the Israeli leadership was looking for a justification to end the practice of demolishing the homes of terrorists. Violence from the intifada had been waning, and Israeli leaders wanted a return to normalcy of sorts.

The problem is that if home demolitions worked, how could they justify ending them? The commission’s report was not based on a real study of the practice and was never intended to be the last word on the topic. It was simply to give the political class cover. Yet the media absorbed the spin all too well, and it became conventional wisdom.

Now that conventional wisdom is about to be upended. Schwartz writes of a forthcoming study by Israeli academics (who personally weren’t exactly enthusiastic about the practice), which comes to a very different conclusion:

In fact, they found two separate correlations. Precautionary demolitions resulted in a significant increase in suicide attacks, a “48.7 percent increase in the number of suicide terrorists from an average district,” according to the study. By contrast, punitive demolitions led to a significant decrease in terror attacks, between 11.7 and 14.9 percent, in the months immediately following the demolition. The study suggests that, at least in the aggregate, terrorists can be understood as “rational actors”: “The results support the view that selective violence is an effective tool to combat terrorist groups and that indiscriminate violence backfires.”

This will not be the last word on the debate over home demolitions, nor should it be. It’s only one study, a snapshot of one (albeit important) time period. Additionally, you can separate the moral implications of the policy from its efficacy, to some degree.

CAMERA - Wire Services Do PR for ICAHD

TS
CAMERA/Snapshots
07 November '11





http://blog.camera.org/archives/2011/11/wire_services_do_pr_for_icahd.html

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), whose director, Jeff Halper, calls for a one-state solution (read: the eradication of the Jewish state) and supports BDS and the Free Gaza movement, got a nice, albeit unwarranted, PR boost from Reuters and AFP. In particular, in an article about last week's release of a new ICAHD report, Reuters promoted the fringe group to "a prominent Israeli non-governmental organization."

ICAHD, which in the past has repeatedly disseminated wildly inaccurate misinformation, continues to do so with the release of its new report.

As AFP reports:

The group's report "No Home, No Homeland" accuses Israel of making it almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits, with the Jerusalem city council granting just 18 for a population of 300,000 last year.

While the AFP did turn to Jerusalem municipality Stephan Miller for a response, the reporter failed to relay any of the specific rebuttal that Miller provided. Instead, the article includes a more general response, stating:

Miller rebuffed the allegations, saying the report contained "misleading facts, blatant lies and political spin about Jerusalem and lacks any connection to reality."

But the AFP failed to detail any of Miller's rebuttals. In communication with CAMERA, he relayed that the city granted more than 100 building permits to eastern Jerusalem Arabs in the last year -- not 18. Miller also points out that in 2010, 80 percent of the permit requests for Arab-dominated neighborhoods in Jerusalem were approved (versus 89 percent in Jewish-majority neighborhoods), a figure which belies ICAHD's claim that it is "amost impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits."

Israel ignoring 400 Palestinian house demolition appeals

Chaim Levinson
Haaretz
07 December 09

(Anybody actually surprised?)

The State Prosecutor's Office never responded to some 400 High Court petitions filed by Palestinians seeking to save their West Bank homes from demolition orders - which means the homes cannot be demolished - according to an advocacy-group report released today.

The homes were classified by the state as being illegally built. The state prosecutor justified its failure to act by stating that either way, the homes were unlikely to be demolished.

The report, released by the Regavim organization, which says its goal is to preserve "national lands," reveals an underreported trend in the West Bank: Palestinians petitioning the High Court to save their homes from demolitions ordered by the Civil Administration.

In most cases, once a petition is filed, the state issues an interim order preventing demolition. The state is then expected to respond to the petition, after which a date is set for a court hearing.

But in 400 such cases - involving 700 homes - the government never responded. This means the interim orders against the demolitions are left in place.

One such petition was filed in 1997 by a resident of the West Bank town of Anata, near Jerusalem. Judge Theodor Or filed a temporary order preventing the demolition, and for several years the case remained frozen, because the state never responded. The interim order is still in effect, and the homeowner therefore has immunity against demolition, granted by the High Court.

Regavim contacted the Attorney General's Office on the matter.

Deputy Attorney General Malkiel Blass stated in response, "There is a gap between the scope of the orders and the demolitions. In these circumstances, priorities must be drafted. After examining the matter, I didn't find any failings in the attorneys' actions."

"It is unacceptable to instruct an attorney to ask the court to hold a hearing on a petition over demolishing a home, when even if the petition is accepted, the structure will likely not be demolished," he wrote.
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Court: Why won't state combat illegal Palestinian construction?

Tomer Zarchin/Chaim Levinson
Haaretz
03 September 09

(Great question!)

The High Court asked state prosecutors why the state discriminates between illegal Jewish and Palestinian building in the West Bank, citing the lack of enforcement of demolition warrants against illegally-built Palestinian buildings in the area.

The High Court hearing on Thursday came after the right-wing "Regavim movement for the protection of national land", called for the court to force Defense Minister Ehud Barak to explain why he hasn't carried out the demolition of illegal buildings in the Palestinian villages of Asaviya and Yitma in the West Bank, which are located next to the settlement of Rahalim.

The state said in response to the petition that since 1996, demolition orders were given against 50 buildings in Asaviya, but only 3 have been carried out.
In the discussion, a justice asked if the enforcement of demolition orders for illegal building by Palestinians is treated equally to demolition orders for illegal building by Jewish settlers in the West Bank. A state prosecutor said that there is a difference in understanding in the Israeli and Palestinian sector.

The same prosecutor said that civilian authorities had ruled that enforcement is different for illegal construction carried out on private property owned by someone other than the builder.

When a justice asked why only 3 demolition warrants had been issued since 1996, she was told that there is only so much manpower to carry out the demolitions and there are more pressing national concerns.

Regavim issued a statement on Thursday saying "finally the High Court understands that it is impossible to enact selective enforcement against Jews only in the West Bank."
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Spain Helping to Rebuild Illegal Homes

Herb Keinon

JPost

10 August 09

The Spanish government is paying for 42 people to come here and help rebuild two Palestinian homes that Israel deemed illegal and tore down in Anata in northeast Jerusalem, according to the director of the organization in charge of the project.

Jeff Halper, the director of the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which is holding its seventh annual summer "rebuilding camp," said volunteers from all over Europe, Latin America, Spain, the United States, South Africa, Asia, and Australia are currently in the country to rebuild two homes demolished in Anata.

"In particular, there are about 42 people from Spain in the camp, and the Spanish government is funding the camp again this year. They have paid for the 42 tickets of young people to come to the work camp, so that is pretty interesting that governments are starting to encourage people to come and resist the occupation," Halper told The Jerusalem Post.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry's agency for international development cooperation, Aecid, allocated some €80,000 in 2009 to ICAHD. In addition, it allocated €80,000 this year for Breaking the Silence, €100,000 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and has promised to allocate €70,000 for Rabbis for Human Rights.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev slammed the involvement of European governments in the Anata project.

"Europe believes in peace and reconciliation, in a two-state solution with a non-violent path to that solution," he said. "It would indeed be strange if European money were going to an NGO headed by an individual who both rejects a two-state solution, and who justifies terrorism."

Regev was referring to past comments and writings by Halper, a veteran activist on the extreme Left.

One Israeli-based Spanish diplomat, who did not know the details of the camp, had no comment on the matter. He said that while there were discussions with Israel following Jerusalem Post revelations last month that Spain was helping to fund Breaking the Silence, Spain did not receive any formal request from Israel to stop funding that organization or any other NGO.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who did not know about the ICAHD summer camp, said that Israel respected "all countries, especially democracies, and we expect them to respect us.

"Israel is a very strong democracy, with a democratic tradition - a strong one - with the rule of law and independence of the judicial branch. NGOs are entitled to have their agendas, but when they cross the line into domestic issues, into internal political issues, it is a dangerous line."

According to Halper, some 80 volunteers are helping rebuild the two homes, which were demolished for not having the necessary building permits. The homes belonged to the families of Younes Muhammad Abdalla Sbaih and Saleh Nimer Abed-Ajwad.

Halper said that 60 volunteers were sleeping at the site during the two-week "camp."

Over the past 10 years, ICAHD has rebuilt more than 160 homes throughout the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
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