Supreme Court chief justice Esther Hayut
Supreme Court chief justice Esther HayutFLASH90

Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected a petition to demolish the home of a terrorist responsible for the slaughter of three Israelis in a July, 2017 terror attack.

On Thursday, the high court rejected the petition filed by members of the Salomon family, appealing a ruling by the court in August 2017 that only the interior of the first floor of the home where terrorist Omar al-Abed lived be destroyed, leaving the second floor of the building intact.

In July 2017, al-Abed broke into the Salomon family home in the town of Halamish (Neve Tzuf) in Samaria, and stabbed three members of the family to death.

An off-duty soldier later shot and wounded al-Abed, who was captured and taken into custody.

While the IDF had initially planned to demolish the entire home where al-Abed lived, petitions brought by several left-wing NGOs on behalf of al-Abed’s family called on the Supreme Court to intervene and limit the demolition.

The court accepted the request, and barred the IDF from demolishing the entire building, arguing that al-Abed had primarily used the bottom floor, while his relatives lived on the top floor.

Later in August 2017, the Salomon family filed an appeal, arguing that the entire building was liable for demolition, since al-Abed’s relatives living on the second floor had been convicted of aiding and abetting the terrorist.

The petition also cited a law authorizing the IDF to demolish a house and confiscate the land on which it was built, when one of its residents was an accomplice, or accomplice after-the-fact, in offenses of violence and terrorism.

Nevertheless, on Thursday, the court ruled against the appeal, maintaining its prior decision protecting the home from full demolition.

Partially demolished home of the terrorist
Partially demolished home of the terroristREUTERS