Why didn't the courts destroy the home of my granddaughter's murderer?
Why didn't the courts destroy the home of my granddaughter's murderer?

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,

I am the grandmother of Hallel Yaffe Ariel Hy'd, slaughtered by a seventeen-year-old terrorist while sleeping in her bed on June 30, 2016 in Kiryat Arba. Two and a half months have passed and I feel great pain at the loss of our beloved Hallel Yaffa, but I also feel great anger and frustration at our government's lack of action in not punishing the terrorist's murderous family.

A seventeen-year-old terrorist was brought up by his family since infancy to glorify murder, especially and specifically, of Jews. He grew up being taught that the way to reach martyrdom is by killing a Jew. This terrorist didn't get the idea of sneaking into a young girl's bedroom and murdering her in her bed on his own. He had his own Facebook page where he wrote what he was going to do and what a privilege it would be to murder. His whole extended family (hamoula) knew his thoughts because of this page and because all of his relatives were brought up the same way.

During the "Shiva" many people said that justice would be served if his whole family would have immediately been taken across the border to Gaza and his home were totally destroyed. I expected that after such a horrible crime this would be the fit punishment. I expected, at the very least, that the family's entire home would be destroyed.

The Israeli courts, Israel's judicial system, is not functioning in our reality.
But your government, Mr. Prime Minister, did nothing meaningful except for a few feeble actions like closing the road or taking away work permits. To the Arabs of the murderous Hamas village Bani Naim this was a prize not a punishment, since they now get a salary from the Palestinian Authority.

The terrorist's mother was interviewed on TV and was so proud of her son's murderous action. She was not afraid to say that.

The Israeli courts, Israel's judicial system, is not functioning in our reality. The western ideas of justice which govern our society are not the norms appropriate to Arab mentality and society. The court's deciding that the terrorist family's home can't be destroyed because there are younger children who will be homeless (!) is abad joke. It is straight out of Kafka. 

The court is encouraging these young children to be terrorists in few years. If the government would have acted immediately, before the terrorists' family could even get to the courts, no one would have objected, in fact most people would have agreed that the punishment, to some extent, fit the crime. Maybe the next terrorist would think twice if he knew that his family would be kicked out of Israel and their house would be destroyed not to be built again.

People can't believe the government's inaction. I can't.                                                 

I came to Israel 46 years ago from the USA with my family. and lived through all the wars from the Yom Kippur war, through the intifadas, Lebanon Wars, the Gulf War, Peace for the Galilee war, all the bombed buses, the stabbings, explosions and attacks against civilians and I have never felt so helpless as I do today. I always trusted the government and especially the prime minister, even if I didn't agree with all their decisions.

Today I feel that something is wrong. The government is more interested in broadening international relations with Africa and China than in keeping us safe, seems afraid of the UN, the Obama administration, the European countries, and is acting like we are still in exile.

The government's first obligation is to protect its law-abiding citizens, to provide personal security and to punish the terrorists who attack innocent civilians. The citizens of Israel expect the government to lead and not be led by world public opinion. No matter what Israel does its actions are seen as negative in the eyes of the world so at least let it do the right things for our citizens. This is the least we can expect.