In a split decision, the High Court of Justice on Monday cancelled the planned demolition of the home of a Palestinian who has been charged with the killing of an IDF soldier earlier this year by dropping a block on his head from the building’s roof.
The court instead permitted the army to seal up just one room of the apartment where Nazmi Abu Bakr, 49, lives. Abu Bakr was charged in June with killing 21-year-old Sgt. First Class Amit Ben-Ygal by throwing a brick at him as the soldier took part in an operation in the West Bank village of Yabed.
The IDF had already begun preparations in June to demolish the home, leading the Abu Bakr family to file an appeal against the measure.
Justices Menachem Mazuz and George Karra ruled to cancel the demolition, reasoning that Abu Bakr’s wife and eight children, who were not involved in the attack, still live there. Justice Yael Willner was in favor of carrying out the measure so that it could serve its purpose as a deterrence against future attacks on Israeli forces operating in the West Bank.
Mazuz wrote that the “the serious harm done to innocent family members cannot be ignored — those to whom no involvement tin the attack is attributed.”
Kara, agreeing with Mazuz, wrote that “justice will come to the attacker when he gets his punishment. But the consequences of his actions should not be cast on to those who have not sinned.”
Willner meanwhile cited “the seriousness of the act… its fatal and serious consequence” as well as “the use made of the structure where the attack was carried out” to argue the order to demolish the home was proportional.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted in response that the ruling was “a sad decision by the High Court that refused our request to destroy the home of the terrorist who killed IDF soldier Amit Ben-Ygal, who was an only child.