Attorney General Mandelblit Objects to Expulsion of Terrorists' Families

After Likud Ministers, and most recently Prime Minister Netanyahu himself last Thursday, have been promoting the option of expelling the families of terrorists who attack Israeli citizens, Army Radio on Sunday morning reported that the proposal has been rejected by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit who determined that the idea is contrary to Israeli as well as international law and cannot be applied.

A source that was present at the cabinet debate noted the sweeping support for the move by the ministers, and suggested it would have been turned into official policy but for the unequivocal objection of the AG. Still, despite the AG's position, several ministers continue to push the idea in public: on Saturday night Minister of Transport and Intelligence Israel Katz (Likud) told Channel 2 News: "We're having a temporary problem with the judicial system, but we must add the step of expelling terrorists' families to deter the attacks by individual minors."

According to Army Radio, the suggestion of expelling the families came up when it was realized that demolishing terrorists' homes did not provide the needed deterrence, especially since several outside elements, most notably Iran, have announced they would transfer funds to the families of terrorists to rebuild their demolished homes.