Israel's High Court Must Stop Collective Punishment of Terrorists' Families

Source: Haaretz

Law, logic and morality all indicate that demolishing the homes of innocent people is not a deterrent, and even the IDF agrees.

The High Court of Justice recently began limiting the use of the draconian practice of sealing and demolishing homes belonging to terrorists’ families. This sanction is unacceptable and violates all basic rules of morality. It constitutes collective punishment of innocent people without trial, contravenes the principles of Israeli constitutional justice and international law, and is not consistent with the biblical commandment, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”

The High Court used to regularly approve home demolitions, whose numbers rose recently. The turning point occurred last Thursday, when justices Menachem Mazuz and Anat Baron refused to approve the demolition of the family home of a Palestinian who had allegedly participated in a terror attack, going against the dissenting opinion of Supreme Court President Miriam Naor. The justices stressed that the alleged terrorist hadn’t lived in his family’s home for a long time, and that his relatives didn’t know about his intent to murder Israelis.

Justice Mazuz had previously written minority opinions in which he argued why he had refused to join other justices in approving home demolitions. In Thursday’s opinion, he remarked that without going into the main argument over the authority to demolish homes, demolishing a home in this case would be not proportional.

While the rulings of Mazuz and Baron focused on proportionality, it would now be appropriate for the other High Court justices to follow suit. The ruling last Thursday should pave the way for a ruling that continues to place great weight on the innocence of the relatives, and also rule categorically that home demolitions are unacceptable under any circumstances.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.712759