Civil rights group presses AG to oppose punitive action against relatives, neighbors of Jerusalem attackers

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) calls on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to instruct the IDF and the Defense Ministry to refrain from imposing what it called a collective punishment on relatives and neighbors of the two terrorists who murdered six people in yesterday’s terror attack.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said today that he ordered authorities to impose “civil sanctions” on relatives of the terrorists and the residents of their hometowns in the West Bank, including revoking 750 work and entry permits to Israel and the demolition of illegal structures in the towns.

“Collective punishment is prohibited under both Israeli law and international humanitarian law. Such actions are war crimes,” ACRI tells the attorney general.

“We ask you to instruct the Defense Ministry and the army to immediately cease committing war crimes.”

ACRI says it sent a similar letter to Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.

The Yesh Din civil rights organization also sent similar legal warnings to Baharav-Miara, Tomer-Yerushalmi, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Monday evening following media reports of planned punitive actions by IDF forces against the Palestinian towns where the terrorists came from.

“International humanitarian law absolutely prohibits collective punishment without exception,” the organization stated.

Yesh Din referenced a recent incident in which the IDF uprooted thousands of olive trees in the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir in what appeared to be a reprisal for a shooting attack in the area carried out by a Palestinian resident of al-Mughayyir against Israelis nearby.

The Attorney General’s Office declines to comment on the letters.