The High Court of Justice held a hearing today (Wednesday) regarding the petition against demolishing the houses of the terrorists who were involved in the murders of Eitam and Naama Henkin Hy"d and stated that the verdict will be given shortly.
The families of the terrorists Ragheb Ahmad Muhammad Aliwi and Bassem Amin Muhammad Sai'h were represented by Moked: The Center for the Defense of the Individual, an organization funded by European governments and by the New Israel Fund.
In the past few years the center has defended terrorists and their families with a focus on petitions to prevent the state from demolishing houses as a deterrent to terror.
A representative of the State Prosecutor said that the terrorist who planned the attack has confessed. "This is truly myopic. The family is the supportive background for the perpetrator of this act so the punishment should apply to all of them."
The representative of Moked, Andre Rosenthal,responded that "The principle of proportionality should be applied here and this terrible sanction should not be implemented when people are only marginally involved. Not only is the sword of punishment hanging over their heads but also the sword of demolition of their houses. If the defendant was not directly involved the sanction should not be used. The demolition order is an order of fear. I request that only one room in the house be sealed."
Im Tirtzu, a Zionist student organization with branches on 15 Israeli campuses and whose stated mission is to “strengthen and advance the values of Zionism in Israel," held a protest vigil outside the court in which they displayed pictures of the victims and demanded an end to the absurd situation in which foreign governments can work to change Israel's policies by funding proxy organizations which are active in the High Court on behalf of terrorists and their families.
The movement said that between 2012-2015 the Center for the Defense of the Individual received 12 million shekels in funding from foreign countries. In the last two years the center has represented almost all the terrorists who murdered Israelis.
After the hearing, the director of Im Tirtzu, Matan Peleg, said that "the foreign government funding which has been channeled from Europe to the Center for the Protection of the Individual is not just funding which encourages terror. A situation has been created in Israel where it is now more profitable to murder an Israeli than to steal his car.
"A murderer of Jews knows that in the High Court and his family will enjoy continued legal protection from the Center for the Defense of the Individual and in jail he will be able to sit in the political prisoners ward which has infinitely better and more comfortable conditions than those provided to any other convicted criminal, without respect to the crime he committed," adds Peleg.
He added that "radical organizations working as fifth columnists funded by foreign governments wish to hurt the sovereignty of the state of Israel and to encourage attacks on innocent people. This is an injustice which cries to the heavens and has no parallel in any place in the world. It is unthinkable that the European Union, a known objector to demolition of terrorist's houses, should work through the High Court via local organizations who are its proxies in every respect, instead of operating through diplomacy as is accepted behavior between independent countries. The 'Im Tirtzu' movement will put an end to this travesty."