Netanyahu orders house demolitions for Jerusalem terrorists

In emergency session on tackling violence in the capital, PM calls for more arrests, additional restraining orders on rioters

Israeli security personnel at the site where an Arab man from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat drove his car into a crowd of people waiting at a Jerusalem Light Rail station, November 5, 2014. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli security personnel at the site where an Arab man from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat drove his car into a crowd of people waiting at a Jerusalem Light Rail station, November 5, 2014. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed officials Thursday to demolish the homes of terrorists who perpetrate attacks in Jerusalem, according to Israel Radio.

The prime minister called an emergency session Thursday on the clashes in Jerusalem, with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Police chief Yohanan Danino, and Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen in attendance.

During the meeting, Netanyahu called to implement more severe measures against the Jerusalem rioters, including increasing use of administrative detention and issuing additional restraining orders. He also called for destroying the homes of terrorists who commit attacks in the city.

The prime minister’s directive came a day after an East Jerusalem man drove his van into a group of pedestrians in the capital, killing a Border Police officer and injuring 11 other people, one of them critically.

Jedan Assad (photo credit: Courtesy)
Jedan Assad (photo credit: Courtesy)

The fatality, Jedan Assad, 38, from the Druze village of Beit Jann, was buried Thursday.

The perpetrator of the Jerusalem terror attack, 48-year-old Ibrahim al-Akary, a Hamas activist from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, was buried late Wednesday night in the Old City after being shot to death by security forces during the course of the attack.

Jerusalem terrorist Ibrahim Al-Akary in a photo uploaded to Facebook on October 29 (photo credit: Facebook image)
Jerusalem terrorist Ibrahim al-Akary in a photo uploaded to Facebook on October 29, 2014 (photo credit: Facebook image)

Speaking hours after the incident, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that Israel must demolish the homes of terrorists as punishment and use all legal measures to deter attackers. He advocated for the use of “very, very clear aggressive force against violence” and said “there is no other way, unfortunately.”

A similar hit-and-run attack took place two weeks earlier at another train station along the seam line in the capital, when a Palestinian man from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan drove his car onto the platform of the Ammunition Hill train station, killing two people, one of them a three-month-old baby, and injuring several more. Police shot and killed him as he attempted to flee the scene.

In the October 22 attack, Abdelrahman al-Shaludi — who, according to Israel, was a Hamas activist — killed three-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun and Karen Yemima Muscara, an Ecuadorian citizen in her 20s who had come to Israel to convert to Judaism.

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