The High Court on Wednesday ordered to postpone the demolition of the homes of two Arab terrorists involved in the murder of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin, but approved the demolition of the home of a third involved terrorist.
The Henkin couple was gunned down in a Hamas shooting attack in front of their children, as they drove outside Itamar in Samaria on the night of October 1, 2015.
Judge Anat Baron was in a minority opinion in the ruling Wednesday, as she opposed demolishing all three homes and even criticized the demolition orders against the homes due to the claims of the terrorists' families that they were unaware of the lethal plans.
The indictment accused the three terrorists Ziad Amar, Muna Saeh and Sabaa Aliwa with charges of intentional manslaughter and attempted intentional manslaughter, crimes which are parallel to the crime of murder, as well as attempted murder.
The three were only part of a large cell of terrorists involved in the heinous murder, in which the three Henkin children managed to escape thanks to their lethally wounded father opening their car door and telling them to run, while both parents heroically struggled with the terrorists.
While the High Court approved the demolition of the homes of members of the terror cell, it was forced to debate the petition of the three terrorists which was submitted for them together with the Center for the Defense of the Individual.
The petition claimed among other things that the demolition opposes international law as it is a form of collective punishment, and is not proportional to the basic rights of those involved.
Judges Noam Solberg and Yitzhak Amit rejected the petition of Ziad Amar's family due to the severity of the attack and his direct involvement. Regarding Aliwa the judges found that he was part of the "second circle" of the terrorists involved in the murder, and that he played a small role.
Solberg wrote regarding Saeh that he did not cooperate in his investigation by the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) and the police, and even when he later acknowledged his involvement, "it was in a limited and partial manner."
In his opinion, Solberg further wrote that since Saeh and Aliwa were in the "second circle" of the attack their case should be reexamined. A conditional order was issued to the state demanding that it clarify the quality of the evidence against the two by May 17.
Judge Baron wrote in the decision that the state did not claim the families of the terrorists were involved or even aware of their terror actions, and said this point was not given enough consideration.
The demolition of terrorists' homes has been supported by the government as a deterrent measure meant to create an interest among the Arab families to prevent terrorism. Just on Tuesday night the home of the murderer of Shlomit Krigman, 23, was demolished.