Photo by Jonas Moff at / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party who also wants
to deter attacks by deporting the families of terrorists.

“The national security establishment and the Israeli
army have conducted research over the years into
dozens of suicide attackers, and it emerged that
the one deterrent for suicide attackers is what the
consequences for their families will be after the
attack,” the text of the bill said.

Home demolitions were largely suspended in 2005
after the Israel Defense Forces found that the practice
had no discernible deterrent eff ect. The demolitions
were sporadically reinstated a few years later and
fully brought back by Netanyahu in November 2014
during a wave of Palestinian attacks.

A 2010 research paper by political scientists at
Northwestern University and Hebrew University
suggested that home demolition works as a deterrent.

The authors of the study based their fi ndings on an
examination of home demolitions in the fi ve years
prior to the army’s 2005 suspension, a period that
coincided with the second intifada.

“We show that punitive house demolitions
(those targeting Palestinian suicide terrorists and
terror operatives) cause an immediate, signifi cant
decrease in the number of suicide attacks,” the
paper said. “The eff ect dissipates over time and by
geographic distance.”
This year, Netanyahu’s new government, the
most right-wing in Israeli history, has indicated it will
accelerate and expand the demolition of the homes
of terrorists. It recently ordered the closing-off of an
apartment belonging to the family of a 13-year-old
who shot and wounded two Israelis near Jerusalem’s
Old City. The move was unusual because Israel had
previously reserved home demolition for attackers
who killed people.

Israel bases its argument on a regulation
from 1945, when Britain controlled what
is now Israel, that was carried over into
Israeli law when the state was established
in 1948. It is known as “Defense regulation
(emergency) 1945, regulation 119.”
The regulation is broadly written, allowing
a “A Military Commander” to destroy
the home of “anyone who off ended, or
attempted an off ense, or assisted off enders
or abetted off enders after the fact,” as
determined by a military court.

Multiple international law experts say
that home demolition is illegal under
international law because it is a form of
A demolished Palestinian home, 2006
collective punishment, which is banned by
the Geneva Conventions. Israel has long
upholds the demolition. In one notable case in
argued that the Geneva Conventions do not apply 2018, the court stopped the demolition after the
to its presence in territories it has captured, because family presented evidence showing that the assailant
the land in question was not the internationally suff ered from a mental illness.

recognized territory of any state prior to 1967.

Homes may be demolished by bulldozers.

The Biden administration also considers home Apartments or rooms are generally fi lled with cement,
demolitions to be collective punishment. “We attach rendering them unlivable. Families sometimes split up
a good deal of priority to this, knowing that the among relatives, at least in the near term, according
home of an entire family shouldn’t be demolished to a United Nations report.

for the action of one individual,” State Department
According to The Jerusalem Post, the army
spokesman Ned Price said in 2021.

commission that recommended ending the practice
Israeli human rights groups, including B’tselem and in 2005 reported that families of the terrorists often
the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, rebuild their homes with compensation funds from
agree with international scholars that the practice the Palestinian Authority and other sources. The
violates international law. B’tselem cites both Palestinian Authority pays monthly stipends to
the Fourth Geneva Convention and a verse in the families of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel
Deuteronomy that reads, “Parents shall not be put or killed while committing violent attacks. Israel
to death for children, nor children be put to death for and its advocates decry the payments as an incentive
parents: they shall each be put to death only for their for terrorism.

own crime.”
Does Israel demolish the homes of Jewish
terrorists? Who owns the land once a home is
demolished? No. The Palestinian family of a boy murdered by
a Jewish terrorist sued to have his killer’s home
destroyed. The Supreme Court in 2017 rejected the
lawsuit, saying too much time had passed since
the 2014 murder. The government argued that
deterrence was not necessary in the case of Jewish
terrorism, because, in the words of Judge Neal
Hendel, Jewish terrorists are “a minority of a minority
of a minority.” The Israeli government counted a total
of 16 Jewish attacks of terrorism in 2015, according to
the Jerusalem Post. Israeli Arab politicians, including
Knesset member Ahmed Tibi, had called on the
government to demolish the Jewish terrorist’s house
as a matter of fair treatment.

Is demolishing terrorists’ homes legal?
Yes, according to Israel. No, according to experts in
international law.

Under the 1945 regulation, military authorities
maintain control of the land, and it reverts to the
original owners — if they are present — once military
authorities leave.

How long does it take for a home
demolition to take place? What happens
to the family?
Generally, the military consults with Israel’s intelligence
services before ordering a home demolition. In the
case of high-profi le attacks, however, the order may
come down immediately, as it did on Feb. 10. Families
have 48 hours to appeal a demolition to the military
commander or another relevant authority.

However, Israel’s Supreme Court has reserved
the right to review demolition orders. This may delay
demolition for months or years, but B’Tselem reports
that in the majority of cases, the court ultimately
How many home demolitions have taken
place? Are homes demolished for reasons
other than deterrence?
According to the Israel Democracy Institute, more
than 50 homes “have been either fully or partially
demolished” between 2014 and 2019 as a deterrent
to terrorism. Hamoked, an Israeli human rights
group, placed the total since 2014 at 75, according
to Haaretz.

Israel has demolished a far greater number
of Palestinian buildings due to lack of a building
permit. Palestinian groups and Israeli human
rights organizations argue that Palestinians face
discrimination in obtaining such permits. Israel also
has a policy of demolishing Palestinian dwellings for
being built in a closed military zone.

The same academic paper that concluded
demolishing the homes of suicide attackers was an
eff ective deterrent also found that home demolitions
for other reasons — including as a preventive measure
— spurred an increase in terror attacks. ■
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