Report: IDF planning to demolish home of Litmans’ killer

Hamas’s al-Aqsa network said Thursday that the family of a terrorist who killed a rabbi and his teenage son in the West Bank has been warned by the IDF that their home is to be demolished.

Military sources said army officials had visited the family home of Shadi Ahmad Matua in Hebron, and carried out some survey work, according to the Hebrew-language website Walla. Even so, the demolition has not received court approval, and therefore no date has been set for a demolition.

Matua, aged 28 and married with two children, is alleged to have shot dead Rabbi Yaakov Litman, 40, and his 18-year-old son, Netanel, near the settlement of Otniel on November 13.

The report came on the day that Rabbi Litman’s daughter Sarah got married at a ceremony in Jerusalem to which she and her fiance invited “the entire Jewish people.”

The Matua family has denied reports that the terrorist’s father and brother handed him over to Israeli authorities in an effort to prevent the demolition.

The Shin Bet security service said November 15 that Matua’s father and brother had informed Israeli authorities of his involvement, to avoid a possible razing of the family home.

Following an extensive search of the family property, Israel Defense Forces soldiers located the gun that killed the Litmans, as well as the car used in the attack, near the settlement of Otniel.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 television, Shadi’s father denied that he informed on his son.

“Think about it — would a man choose his home over his own son?” he asked during a telephone interview. “Let them come and demolish my house right now,” he added.

The practice of demolishing the family homes of terrorists has been criticized by non-governmental groups, but government officials have repeatedly defended the measure as a deterrent against future terror attacks.

Authorities say the Litmans’ car was fired on by a car that passed it on the road. After being hit, the car swerved into the opposite lane, where it crashed into rocks by the side of road. Yaakov and Netanel were both hit by the initial gunfire, and Yaakov was fatally wounded. Netanel Litman tried to call rescue services but was then also shot dead by the gunman, who got out of his car to fire more bullets into the Litmans’ vehicle.

The other family members in the car — the mother, a 16-year-old boy and three young girls aged 11, 9 and 5 — were lightly wounded, suffering mostly from bruises and shrapnel injuries.

The Litmans were driving to an event in the town of Meitar to celebrate the upcoming wedding.