Kfar Tapuah
Kfar TapuahDavid Rosenberg

A week after the Amona evacuation, the Supreme Court issued new demolition orders for a neighborhood in the Jewish community of Kfar Tapuah in Samaria.

The court ruled on Tuesday that 17 buildings in Tapuah West, a neighborhood of Kfar Tapuah, must be demolished by April 2018.

Tapuah, a town of roughly 1,000 east of Ariel, was targeted by the court in early 2004 when it ordered the demolition of a synagogue in the Tapuah West neighborhood.

The demolition orders issued Tuesday were made in response to an appeal by the “Yesh Din” organization, a far-left NGO, who filed with the court on behalf of residents of the nearby village of Yasuf who claim they have a basis for ownership of the land.

The orders were issued despite - or perhaps because of -arguments by the government that it intends to normalize the status of the neighborhood.

David Ha’Ivri, a former mayor of Kfar Tapuah and former spokesperson for the Samaria Regional Council accused the government of dragging its feet on the issue, despite promises to settle questions of the neighborhood’s status.

“The Netanyahu-Bennett government is a disgrace,” said Ha’Ivri. “They have sat on their hands on the issue of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria for too long. Yesterday Amona, today Tapuah West.”

“Jewish families in the heartland of Israel should not have their homes demolished by the State of Israel. It is time for the Israeli public to rethink our blind support for these two parties who have proven to be a huge disappointment. We must make Israel great again.”

MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) slammed the court’s decision, which came on the heels of the passage of the regulation law Monday night.

“The timing of the release of this ruling for the demolition of 17 buildings in Tapuah, just before the Regulation Law goes into effect, is purely coincidental,” Smotrich said sarcastically. “Just like the composition of the [three-judge] panel that heard the case really thinks that we are complete fools. But we aren’t. We’ll put a stop to this judicial tyranny."