There’s nothing new in the fact that the Israeli Supreme Court is helping the enemies of Israel." 
The home of Alaa Abu Dhaim, the murderer of eight yeshiva students in the Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav shooting in March, will not be demolished - at least for the next 30 days. So ruled an Arab judge in Israel’s High Court of Justice on Tuesday.
Justice Salim Jubran handed down the temporary injunction in response to a petition filed by the terrorist’s father, against the stated intention of various government and law enforcement officials, including the Prime Minister, to at least partially demolish the home in which the terrorist’s family lives.
MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad (NU-NRP) had harsh remarks for the High Court on its decision. “I’m really surprised that this information has reached the headlines of news sites and channels," he said, "because there’s nothing new in the fact that the Israeli Supreme Court is helping the enemies of Israel and the families of terrorists."
“The day that the Supreme Court will decide to destroy the 65,000 illegal houses built in Israel by Arabs, this will be news,” he said.
Prof. Eldad had no comment on the fact that the judge who issued the halt order was an Arab. Justice Salim Jubran, a Christian from Haifa and the descendant of Lebanese Maronites, is the Supreme Court’s sole Arab member.
In early August, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered that proceedings begin to demolish the home. The decision came after consultations with senior IDF officers, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and police.
The demolition order was supported by earlier statements from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in which he joined Barak in calling for the demolition of the homes of eastern Jerusalem terrorists. The statements came on the heels of a spate of terror attacks this year in the Israeli capital, all committed by Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem, which left a total of 11 Jews dead and many more injured.
The government’s statements in favor of the demolitions are seen as a response to a public outcry by Israeli citizens, but the State currently has no authority to carry them out without the consent of the High Court.
Hisam Abu Dhaim, the father of the Mercaz HaRav terrorist, was given until Thursday to file a petition to halt the demolition order, which he did with the help of his Jewish attorney Andre Rosental and an Israeli civil liberties group. In the petition, Rosental argued that the Home Front Command, which was to oversee the demolition of the second and third stories of the house, failed to give the family estimates on the strength of the remaining structure, which the father claims would be uninhabitable.
Rosental, speaking on behalf of the terrorist’s family, also claimed that the demolition has no basis, as the defense establishment has failed to prove that the attack was politically motivated and thus a true act of terrorism.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Salim Jubran issued a temporary injunction halting the demolition. In the meantime, he gave the Home Front Command 30 days to respond to the petition, after which he will issue a final ruling.
Although Israel has acted on the right to demolish the homes of terrorists as a form of deterrent in the past, it has not done so with respect to houses in eastern Jerusalem.
Although Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has admitted that Israel has a right to demolish terrorists' homes, he claims that there are many legal difficulties, both domestic and international, that complicate the matter. In addition, some security officials say that home demolitions have not proven to be an effective deterrent against terror.