Supreme Court headed by Miriam Naor
Supreme Court headed by Miriam NaorYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

At the Supreme Court discussion Thursday regarding the demolition of the homes of seven Arab terrorists, who murdered seven Jews, Supreme Court President Miriam Naor shocked attendees by rebuking the mother of a terror victim for speaking.

Devora Gonen, the mother of Danny Gonen who was shot to death by Arab terrorists in June while hiking north of Jerusalem, arrived in the court to present her position to the judges in requesting that they demolish the home of her son's murderer. The demolition was postponed by a Supreme Court judge last Thursday.

Gonen was forced to wait a long time before being allowed to speak, along with other bereaved parents including Eliezer Rosenfeld, father of Malachi Rosenfeld who was murdered last June outside the town of Shvut Rachel as he was returning home with three friends from a basketball game.

"Danny was the supporting pillar of the family," Gonen said painfully, when she was finally given the opportunity to speak.

"The murdered have become invisible. You turned the victims into the guilty party. I hear how unfortunate the families of the terrorists are - we aren't...?"

At that point, and to the great surprise of those in attendance, Naor cut into Gonen's words, saying, "even a bereaved mother has limits as to what she can say here. The madam will not use the rights given to her here so as to fling accusations."

There was a stunned silence following the Supreme Court president's words.

The court on Thursday held the meeting so as to discuss the petitions of the families of the terrorists, who asked the Supreme Court to order the security system not to carry out the demolition orders on their houses. The Almagor Terror Victims Association obtained standing as "friends of the court" resulting in the granting of permission for the Jewish victims' families to attend and speak at the hearing. Meir Indor, head of the association, told Justice Naor: "Demolishing homes is a way to achieve justice as well as deterence. Terror victims are soldiers without uniforms." 

Before the hearing, Rosenfeld said, "I do not sleep at night. It is truly appalling to hear about the rights of the families of murderers. Apparently they have rights, but we do not. Nothing apparently happened to us – obviously I am being cynical. It's not just the parents, but the relatives, friends, and schoolmates who suffer from the loss."