The painstakingly long process for demolishing the homes of terrorists who had carried out brutal and deadly terror attacks is demonstrated by the figures in 2023. An Israel Hayom investigation carried out with right-wing watchdog Im Tirtzu reveals that since the beginning of 2023, 12 severe terror attacks were carried out in which 26 people were murdered. However, the homes of only two of the 17 terrorists involved in those terror attacks, and whose identities are known for sure, were demolished.
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The significance of this is that even though most of the terror attacks occurred six and seven months ago – the terrorists' homes stand – despite the fact that demolishing terrorist homes is one of the significant deterrence measures in the hands of the IDF and the Ministry of Defense.
According to the analysis conducted by Israel Hayom and the Im Tirtzu movement's research department, Israel's security establishment issued demolition orders for only four homes of terrorists who murdered Israelis this year. In practice, only the home of the terrorist who murdered Or Eshkar in Tel Aviv was demolished, and the home of the terrorist who murdered the Paley brothers in a vehicular terror attack in the Ramot neighborhood in Jerusalem was sealed closed.
It is also apparent that last February, a demolition order of the home of Alqam Khayri, the terrorist who murdered seven people in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood in Jerusalem, was issued, but the demolition did not come to fruition. The family members of terrorists Abdel Fattah and Muhammad Kharousha, who killed Hallel and Yagel Yaniv in Samaria, received a demolition order for their home last May, but their home has yet to be demolished. This is also true regarding the home of the terrorist who murdered Elan Ganeles the same day in the Jordan Valley. The homes of the terrorists who murdered the three Dee family members at Hamra Interchange had an engineering mapping done – but as was mentioned, four months after the horrific terror attack – the homes remain intact.
Mapping without demolishing
The demolition of the homes of terrorists has been a subject of controversy for years. Although Israel's security establishment believes that demolishing terrorists' homes is fundamental for Israeli deterrence and the prevention of further terror activity, they demolish them only when Israelis are murdered. Therefore, an attack in which one Israeli is killed would eventually lead to the destruction of the terrorist's home, while an attack like the one that occurred several days ago in a mall in Ma'ale Adumim, in which a terrorist opened fire and wounded six Israelis, two critically, would not result in the destruction of the terrorist's home.
It should be noted that ten terrorist homes have been demolished since the beginning of the year – the last of which was in Nablus, a day after the terror attack at the gas station in Eli. However, these were homes of terrorists who carried out attacks in 2022, and their demolition was also significantly delayed. So, the home demolished in Nablus belonged to the terrorist who murdered Givati Reconnaissance Unit soldier Ido Baruch in October 2022 – meaning that the home was demolished after eight months.
The IDF conducts mapping of a terrorist's home shortly after an attack, but the process significantly slows down afterward. A study by Im Tirtzu published in Israel Hayom at the beginning of this year determined that a terrorist's home is demolished after about three months. However, there are often longer and more significant delays.
Im Tirtzu says that in the terror attacks that happened since the beginning of the year, not counting the terror attacks that occurred lately, such as the attack in Eli and the attack in Tel Aviv in which a pregnant woman lost her unborn child, the demolition of terrorist homes has been delayed for an average of 115 days long and counting.
The IDF argues that the demolitions will occur according to "operational considerations." While there is a need to gather significant force for demolishing a terrorist's home, including the use of the Yahalom Combat Engineering Corps unit, the fact remains that no terrorist homes have been demolished so far, raising doubts.
Who makes the decisions?
Alon Schvartzer, head of Im Tirtzu's Research and Policy department, places blame on the policy framework of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. "The findings are very troubling, and the delay in demolishing the terrorists' homes is unacceptable and undermines Israeli deterrence. Given that this is not an isolated event but rather a sequence of more than ten homes of terrorists who carried out attacks in 2023 and have not been demolished yet, the question arises: Is there a directive from above to halt the demolitions of the homes of terrorists that carried out terror attacks in 2023?
"The Defense Minister cannot ignore the matter and can certainly not evade responsibility. We expect him to instruct the security establishment to stop delaying and immediately demolish all the homes of the terrorists that committed terror attacks in 2023. This is not how an effective security policy looks like."
The IDF spokesperson unit replied: "There is no change in the IDF's policy in the confiscation and demolition of terrorists' homes. The decisions regarding the demolition of terrorist homes are made according to the recommendations given by bodies in the security establishment. Every case is examined thoroughly, taking into account the circumstances and operational and security considerations, aiming to deter potential terrorists.
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