Home of East Jerusalem terrorist to be demolished

Family of Abdel-Rahman al-Shaludi, who killed two people at a light rail station last month, has 48 hours to appeal order

By ToI Staff 14 November 2014, 11:29 pm

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Abdelrahman al-Shaludi, who killed two and injured seven others after he rammed his vehicle into pedestrians at a Jerusalem Light Rail station, October 23, 2014. (photo credit: Channel 2)

The family of Palestinian terrorist Abdel-Rahman al-Shaludi, who killed two people including an infant in a terror attack at a light rail station in Jerusalem last month, received a demolition order Friday for their Silwan home in East Jerusalem.

The family has 48 hours to appeal the directive.

The move came a day after the Home Front Command issued an order to demolish the home of another Palestinian man who carried out a terrorist attack in central Jerusalem in August.

The terrorist, East Jerusalem resident Muhammed Naif El-Ja’abis, was shot dead by police shortly after running over and killing a pedestrian and ramming his stolen excavator into a bus. Following the excavator attack, security officials told Channel 2 news that Ja’abis may have been motivated to carry out the attack by revenge, after his cousin’s home was demolished by Israeli authorities a short while earlier.

Police and rescue personnel at the scene where a baby was killed and several people were injured as a Palestinian drove his car into the Jerusalem light rail station, by Ammunition Hill October 22, 2014. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Last week, in light of the surging violence in Jerusalem and across the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the full reinstatement of the policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians who perpetrate terror attacks against Israelis, during an emergency cabinet meeting. The policy had rarely been implemented in the past ten years.

The prime minister’s directive came in response to a series of deadly hit-and-run terror attacks in Jerusalem in recent weeks that have killed six people and injured dozens of others.

The US government condemned Thursday the scheduled demolitions, with State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki contending that such a move amounted to collective punishment and would only heighten tensions in the region.

Although Israel discontinued the practice of home demolitions nearly a decade ago, security forces have used the policy on a number of occasions, most recently when the IDF demolished the homes of Hussam Kawasme and Amer Abu Aysha, the Hamas operatives responsible for the abduction and murder of three Jewish teenagers in June.

Adiv Sterman and Tamar Pileggi contributed to this report.