Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said earlier Monday that the state intends to demolish the home of the terrorist who murdered Mizrahi. “I wish to commend the Israel Security Agency, the IDF and the Israel Police for the quick solution of the murder of the police officer Baruch Mizrahi of blessed memory,” he said.
“I have given instructions to tear down the home of the terrorist. He is a Hamas operative and that is part of the effort that we make to fight Hamas.”
The terrorist’s family has 24 hours to appeal the demolition order.
Home demolitions were commonly used as punishment for terrorists in the 60s, 70s and 80s, but were abandoned over time under pressure from leftist groups and left-leaning elements in the judicial system.
Extreme leftist group B’tselem is upset with the decsion to tear down the home. “The intention to raze the home of the defendants in the killing of Baruch Mizrahi means the adoption of a formal policy of harming innocents,” the group said. “The two people accused of carrying out the terror attack will be tried and if they are convicted, will face prolonged jail sentences. The heavy price of the demolition of their home will not be paid by them but by their relatives, who are not suspected of any offense. Two families, numbering 13 people, including eight children, live in the home.”
The demolition “stems from a quest for revenge and and political capital, while exploiting the angry climate in Israel following the abduction events,” the group added. “This is a draconian punishment that has not been used for a decade, except one case in 2009.”
The group appears to be referring to the sealing-off of two floors in the home of Ala’a Abu Dheim, the terrorist who murdered eight yeshiva students at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, in 2008.
The terrorist who murdered Mizrahi, Ziyad Awad, was arrested a month ago by Yamam special forces, along with his 18-year-old son in Tarkumiya, a village to the north west of Hevron.
The Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) announced that investigations revealed Awad had obtained a motorcycle and Kalashnikov rifle so as to commit the terror attack. He arrived in the Hevron area outside Kiryat Arba where the shooting occurred a week in advance to plan where he would stand while shooting, to collect information and scout the area.
Mizrahi was driving to Kiryat Arba for a Passover seder meal with his pregnant wife and three of his children when the terrorist opened fire on the family car. He had served as head of the Technology Division in the Sigint Unit, part of the Intelligence Brigade in the Investigations and Intelligence Branch of the police.
