The State submitted to the Supreme Court a supplementary response to the file in which the petitioners seek to destroy the homes of Mohammed Abu Khdeir's Jewish killers.
In the statement filed under the auspices of the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Attorney General, and the State Prosecutor, it was said that the Defense Minister has restricted himself to invoking his authority to order sealing or demolition of buildings only when circumstances of time and place are extreme and demand it.
"The consideration of deterring potential terrorists can not stand alone. Therefore, even if a grievous attack is perpetrated by individuals belonging to a group that practices terrorism on a limited scale, when there is no support and encouragement to continue carrying out terrorist activity coming from the same group, there is no reason to take the step of demolishing structures," the reaction said.
It was also said in the statement, prepared by attorney Avinoam Segal-Elad from the Supreme Court Petitions Department of the State Attorney's Office, that the Defense Minister believes that steps being taken today already provide adequate deterrence, and there is no reason to invoke his authority against other various reference groups beyond the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria and residents of east Jerusalem.
"The distinction between the various peer groups", adds the State, "is an acceptable and reasonable distinction.
"If in the future there will be a sharp and sudden rise in serious acts of terrorism, and the acts of terrorism are executed by terrorists from a different peer group, in a way that would lead to the conclusion that the deterrence existing today has eroded relative to that peer group, then it would be appropriate to examine the issue anew, and the Defense Minister does not rule out the possibility of exercising his authority against attackers from that reference group, given that the circumstances justify it," said the State's response.
Translated by Mordechai Sones