MK: Demolish Terrorists’ Homes Within 72 Hours, Not a Month Later

The IDF informed the family of Arafat Arfiya, the murderer of Ori Ansbacher, H”yd, that their home is to be demolished. A date has not yet been set for the demolition. The family has the right to appeal the demolition to the High Court.

Arfiya last month murdered Ansbacher in the Ein Ya’el forest in Yerushalayim. Arfiya, 29, is a resident of Chevron, and was in Yerushalayim without a permit. Security officials said he left his home with a knife and made his way to Yerushalayim. He came across Ansbacher in the forest and murdered her. Security officials tracked him to a mosque in Ramallah, and from there to an abandoned building in the neighboring town of El Bireh, which he apparently had prepared for his escape. Security officials entered the town, and under heavy attack by rioters throwing rocks and firebombs, arrested him.

Commenting on the decision, Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev said that the demolition of the home should have taken place immediately, not a month later. “Demolitions should take place within 72 hours. A justice system that postpones the demolition of a terrorist’s house by over a month but allows anti-Israel parties like Balad to run in the elections must do some self-evaluation about how well its policies deter terror.”

Yogev added that he planned to introduce a bill in the next Knesset to require demolition of terrorists’ homes within 72 hours of their being captured, as well as a bill to deport the families of terrorists from Yehudah and Shomron to Gaza. The latter bill was approved on its first reading several months ago, but the breakup of the Knesset halted its progress.