On October 18, 2016,
HaMoked petitioned the High Court of Justice against a punitive demolition order issued by the military for a room in which lived a young man, implicated in an attack against Israelis in Tel Aviv on June 8, 2016. The punitive order targets the room next to the home of the youth’s parents, in Khirbet Raka’a, Hebron District. In
rejecting the objection to the order, the military stated it intended sealing the room with concrete.
In the petition, HaMoked maintained that the demolition order was disproportionate given the youth’s relatively minor role in the attack and the fact that the homes of the two prominent offenders in the attack had already been demolished. HaMoked noted that recently, in
HCJ 1638/16, the justices revoked the demolition order issued for the home of a man who acted in the second circle of those involved in an attack; in the judgment in that case,
the court ruled that the man’s part in the attack was not central and did not justify demolition under Regulation 119.
HaMoked reiterated its position that punitive home demolition is an entirely unacceptable practice and must be abandoned – this, "despite the honorable court’s repeated decisions not to consider at this time the legality of the sanction per se".
Once the petition was filed, the HCJ issued a temporary order prohibiting the sealing or demolition of the structure pending another decision and ordered a hearing in the petition for October 31, 2016, 10:00 a.m.
