Israel razes East Jerusalem home in synagogue attack crackdown

JERUSALEM – (UPDATED) Israel on Wednesday, November 19, demolished the home of a Palestinian behind a deadly car attack in Jerusalem, pushing ahead with a promised crackdown following a bloody assault on a synagogue.

Four rabbis and a policeman were killed on Tuesday after two Palestinians wielding meat cleavers and a gun launched a rare assault on a place of worship.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a harsh response to the synagogue assault, which was the bloodiest attack in Jerusalem in years.

“I have ordered the destruction of the homes of the Palestinians who carried out this massacre and to speed up the demolitions of those who carried out previous attacks,” Netanyahu said late on Tuesday. 

Hours later Israeli forces razed the east Jerusalem apartment of the family of Abdelrahman Shaludi, who deliberately rammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians last month, killing a young woman and a baby.

Shaludi was shot by police as he fled the scene of his October 22 rampage, and later died of his wounds. 

Israel is struggling to contain a wave of unrest in annexed Arab east Jerusalem that has seen a growing number of deadly attacks by Palestinians.

Punitive house demolitions have been used by Israelfor years in the West Bank but the policy was halted in 2005 after the army said they had no proven deterrent effect.

Until now, razing homes has never been adopted as a matter of policy in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

The family home in the densely populated neighbourhood of Silwan was little more than a shell after the demolition, its inner and outer walls blown out and piles of rubble covering the floor, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent reported. 

The family had moved out ahead of the demolition and were staying with relatives. 

“Where can we go now? We have nowhere to live, no home,” said Shaludi’s sister Nibras, a young teenager in a bright pink flowered headscarf.

Controversial practice

Israel‘s decision to resume the policy of house demolitions was taken on November 6 following a second attack by a Palestinian using a car which killed two Israelis, an official told AFP. 

The aim, he said was “to restore calm in Jerusalem” following a wave of attacks in the city. 

In 2005, the army had recommended halting the policy, saying it was not effective as a deterrent and suggesting it was likely to encourage violence. 

Human rights groups have denounced the practice as collective punishment targeting not the perpetrators but their families.

And last week, the US State Department warned that demolishing homes would be “counterproductive” and would “exacerbate an already tense situation” in Jerusalem. 

Israeli commentators too acknowledged a dispute over the effectiveness of the measure. 

“The Shin Bet (internal security service) contends that it deters, the army contends that it does not and that it could even have the opposite effect —- it sows the seeds for the next terror attack,” wrote Nahum Barnea in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

“But all that is irrelevant, because the government … feels that it must show the public that it is punishing the other side.”

Aside from the homes of the two Palestinians behind the synagogue attack, three more east Jerusalem apartments are earmarked for demolition in connection with a spate of attacks over the past three months.

Pope Francis voiced dismay at the “alarming increase in tension in Jerusalem” and appealed to both Israeland the Palestinians to take the “courageous decisions” needed to achieve peace.

Jordan, custodian of Muslim holy places in east Jerusalem, said it was following “the serious situation” in the city, condemning all acts of violence and calling for “restraint and calm.”

Israel meanwhile denounced as unhelpful a vote by the Spanish parliament – hours after the synagogue attack – calling on Madrid to recognise a Palestinian state.

“It would have been better if the Spanish parliament had instead chosen to do the right thing by condemning the abominable slaughter carried out by inflamed Palestinians in a synagogue in Jerusalem,” a foreign ministry statement said. – Rappler.com