The Israeli military on Wednesday demolished the family home of the east Jerusalem Palestinian who had rammed his vehicle into a crowd of civilians at a tram stop a few weeks ago — a show of force aimed at preventing other terrorists from committing similar attacks.
“Demolishing terrorists’ homes sends a sharp message to anyone targeting civilians of members of the security forces: Terror and hiring innocent people carries a heavy price that will be paid by those who choose to continue this path,” the IDF put out in a tweet, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The practice of destroying enemy and attackers’ homes — leaving families in the lurch — has been condemned by the international community, and Israel hasn’t done it for years, the Los Angeles Times reported. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed more home destructions are coming.
He made the promise on the heels of several attacks on Israel and Jerusalem’s holy sites in recent weeks by Palestinian radicals and terrorists sympathetic to their cases. The latest involved a shooting-and-slashing attack in west Jerusalem that left four religious scholars — three of whom held U.S. citizenship — dead, along with a police officer who responded to the scene.
The house that was just blown up was owned by the family of Abed Al-Rahman Al-Shaludi who used his vehicle to slam into a crowd of pedestrians on Oct. 22, killing a baby girl and woman, and injuring five others.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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