Katz orders crackdown on work permits for those living in same town as Jerusalem attackers

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has ordered authorities to impose “civil sanctions” on the relatives of two terrorists who carried out yesterday’s deadly shooting attack in Jerusalem, as well as residents of their Ramallah-area hometowns of Qatanna and Qubeiba, appearing to impose a collective punishment on Palestinians who are not accused of involvement in or knowledge of the assault.

Katz says 750 work and entry permits to Israel will be revoked. Immediate family members of Palestinians accused of terror are barred from working in Israel as a matter of policy, but it is more rare for Israeli authorities to revoke work permits of members of of Palestinian terrorists’ extended family.

Israeli officials have said the policy is intended to dissuade Palestinians from planning terror attacks, as doing so will harm their extended family’s livelihood. Critics have called it collective punishment.

Katz also says he ordered the demolition of “any illegal structures in the villages” though it’s unclear what the practical implications of that may be. Both villages lie in Area B of the West Bank, where Israel has no authority over civil matters such as issuing building permits.

Katz says he ordered the sanctions at the recommendation of defense officials, including the outgoing chief of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian.

The two gunmen, Mohammad Taha, 21, from Qatanna, and Muthanna Amro, 20, from Qubeiba, murdered six people and wounded over a dozen others at Ramot Junction in Jerusalem, before being killed by an off-duty soldier and armed civilians.