On Monday, the Supreme Court is due to rule on a petition submitted by a terrorist and his family, protesting the IDF’s plans to destroy their home, following a murderous attack committed on Rabbi Shai Ohayon Hy”d in Petah Tikva two months ago.
Khalil Doikat, aged 49, stabbed and fatally wounded Rabbi Ohayon and would have killed others given the opportunity. The IDF signed a demolition order for his family’s home over a month ago, but the demolition has not yet been carried out due to the petition, submitted with the aid of the left-wing organization HaMoked, which focuses on “protecting Palestinians’ rights.” In the wake of the petition, Supreme Court Justice Neal Hendel issued a temporary order halting the demolition two weeks ago, pending a hearing on the petition.
Rabbi Ohayon’s wife has expressed her hope that the petition will be rejected and that the Justices will order the demolition to go ahead. “We want to believe that justice will prevail in order to prevent the next murderer from leaving his home and taking a life and destroying an entire family,” she said. “The State of Israel has a moral duty to concern itself with preserving the lives of its citizens.”
Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization which is representing the Ohayon family will be present at tomorrow’s court hearing, along with family members. “The time has come for us to put an end to the shedding of the blood of Israeli citizens whose sole ‘crime’ is that of being Jewish in our land,” he said. “The IDF should not be prevented from doing what is necessary to create deterrence and prevent the murders of Jews.”
Bleicher noted that the Supreme Court recently ruled against the demolition of the home of the terrorist who murdered IDF soldier Amit ben Yigal, and that therefore Honenu sees tomorrow’s court hearing as especially significant in the ongoing legal storm regarding this particular means of deterrence.
“If the petition is rejected tomorrow, the IDF will still have this means of deterrence at its disposal,” he said. “This is virtually the sole means of deterrence we still have. If, God forbid, the Justices decide to accept the petition, it will deal a heavy blow to the ability of the IDF to create deterrence against terrorists.”