Yehuda Dimentman
Yehuda DimentmanAviya Deutsch/TPS

On Thursday, Israel's Supreme Court unanimously rejected the petition of the family of the terrorist who murdered Yehuda Dimentman, Jit Allah Jaradat, who appealed to prevent the demolition of his home.

Judges Yitzhak Elron, Yael Wilner, and Ofer Grosskopf also ruled that the terrorist's family "was well aware of his terrorist intentions and what he was planning to do."

The judges emphasized several times that even without evidence of the family's support for the terrorist, the IDF had the authority to destroy the terrorist's home, but that they saw fit to note this support nonetheless.

In his verdict, Judge Elron wrote that, "Among the mother's statements in her interviews with the media just a few days after the attack, one can find the following: 'My message, what my son and brother did was for the entire Palestinian people,' 'We have no regrets, no matter what happens,' and 'With the help of Allah all my children for the sake of al-Aqsa, Palestine, and all the Muslims and the Islamic nation.'

"These words speak for themselves," Judge Elron stressed, adding that, "the involvement of the family is not limited to the mother. The terrorist's uncle, Mahmoud Yussuf Jaradat was also involved, as was his brother Omar, who has been indicted for many offenses related to the attack in question, including that of intentionally causing death.

"In any case, even in the absence of the family's knowledge of and involvement in the terrorist's intentions and actions, the conclusion is the same," he noted. "The awareness of the occupants of the home of the terrorist's intentions is not a necessary condition for the exercise of the military commander's authority."

In summation, the judges expressed disgust at the comparison made by attorney Leah Tzemel, representing the terrorists, between Yehuda Dimentman's widow and the terrorist's mother. "How can the two be mentioned in the same breath? The terrorist's mother supported criminal acts in which two of her sons stand accused; meanwhile, the widow of the victim has lost her husband and her young baby is now an orphan. There is no room for comparison between perpetrators and victims, and such words should never have been uttered, all the more so since they did not contribute, in the slightest, to a clarification of the petition."

Shai Glick, the head of Betsalmo, which is representing the Dimentman family, said: "We welcome this Supreme Court ruling. Once again, it has been proven that the destruction of terrorists' homes saves lives. Once again, we thank the Judea and Samaria Attorney-General, who has been assisting the Dimentman family in their unparalleled, just, and moral struggle to enhance deterrence."