The United States on Thursday condemned the demolition of the home of Muntassar Shalabi, who murdered yeshivah student Yehuda Guetta, h’yd, 19, and injured two others in a drive-by terror shooting attack on May 2.
The demolition was carried out despite attempts by the US to stop it due to the fact that Shalabi and his family members are US citizens. An appeal by the family against the demolition to Israel’s Supreme Court was unanimously rejected.
“We are following reports that the home was demolished,” a US Embassy spokesperson stated.
“We believe it is critical for all parties to refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution. This certainly includes the punitive demolition of Palestinian homes.”
“As we stated numerous times, the home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual. Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to comment further.”
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office responded to the US statement by saying: “The Prime Minister appreciates and respects the US government. At the same time, he acts only in accordance with Israel’s security considerations and the protection of the lives of Israeli citizens.”
Likud MK Miri Regev stated: “The United States government should consider the lives of the family destroyed by a terrorist before considering the family of that same terrorist.”
Israeli journalist Lital Shemesh wrote in response to the US condemnation: “Hello to the US Embassy that condemned the demolition of the home of the terrorist and said that a family’s home shouldn’t be demolished for the actions of one individual. Does this mean that courts need to prevent foreclosing the home of a person who didn’t meet his mortgage payments? You’re not going to throw an entire family on the street because of the actions of one individual, will you? Or is debt to a bank more serious than a nationalistic murder?”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
Tearing down people’s houses, a minhag the Israelis picked up from the Brits (and note how well it worked for the Brits – you have to be older than Biden to remember when Britain was an Empire and not a second rate island off the coast of Europe). It doesn’t impair the terrorists, and just makes people more mad at you. The zionists have been in the de-construction business for two generations, and notice that it has had no impact on terrorism.
The difference in this case also is the Palestinian family promotes their children to do terrorist attacks so it’s one and one for all
I would much prefer that Israel escalate their retribution for terror and murder. To schedule the demolition ensures that the family that supports the terror also get away with murder. I suggest that the demolition be done without notification, and the rest of the family be buried in the rubble. I would suggest that the funerals in which the Arabs glorify their murderous terrorists should be bombed to smithereens. The Arabs are bloodthirsty subhuman savages. All the rhetoric about two state solutions, all the accusations about exacerbating tensions and similar nonsense, all the pacifying words about diplomacy are silly. They make rocks look intelligent. These animals are completely incapable of participating in peace, regardless of what Biden or his puppeteers blabber.
Meanwhile, the only thing that stops terrorists is direct lethal threat. If they suffer too many casualties, they might retreat. Nothing else has any impact. Egypt knows this, and quite a few Arab countries have recognized this. But today’s Dems are rabidly anti-Semitic, and hatred toward israel is now in vogue, pushed by the socialists. Israel needs to openly tell Biden and his controllers to mind their own business.
I would have responded to the US condemnation as follows:
The reason we need to demolish a terrorist’s home when that terrorist takes the life of an Israeli is to provide a strong disincentive to the act of terrorism which is being incentivized by the United States giving money to Palestinians who pay terrorists for their acts of terrorism.
Perhaps the demolitions would not be necessary if the US wasn’t incentivizing Palestinian terrorists to kill Jews.
Well of course Emhoff, Susan Rice, & Jen Psaki would be against this. They are anti cop anti law and when one of their ilk commits a heinous crime, they let them out on the streets immediately, due to bail reform, to try to kill more white folks. It’s racial justice time.
akuperma,
How can one possibly note that such actions have had no impact on terrorism? How can you compare it to what would have been otherwise? I personally would be surprised if not a single would-be terrorist had second thoughts due to what would become the subsequent suffering of his family.
Dear Secretary Blinken,
Does the United States of America support capital punishment as a penalty for a first degree murder committed by a US citizen in another country?
Suppose the Knesset of the State of Israel enacts a law which provides a convicted murderer with the choice of a) being executed, or b) being incarcerated and having his home demolished. Would the United States object to this hypothetical example of collective punishment? How would your brain trust of Barack Obama, Valerie Jared and Susan Rice direct you to respond should a murderer in Israel choose incarceration and demolition over execution?
I have suggested many times to YWN in commentaries that to combat terrorism in Israel, you should bury a slain terrorist in an unmarked grave and photograph the burial. And, very importantly, have the camera show that the body is shrouded in PIGSKIN !!! Then advertise the burial on the Israel media.
Unfortunately, my advise falls on deaf ears—-“after everything else has been tried maybe they’ll try mine”
(I’m paraphrasing a deceased rabbi).
B’vah’cha’shah, all frum do More Talmud T_rah (MTT), More Davvening (MD) and More Chessed (MC).
A goy,
Gerry Mullen