There is an old saying in Yiddish, “Man plans and God laughs.” In Israel, the struggle is usually between top government officials and the Supreme Court.
This time, the home of an Arab terrorist who murdered an IDF soldier a year ago is safe from demolition thanks to a stay of execution by the Supreme Court.
The terrorist, Nur al-Din Abu Hashayeh, was convicted on the charge of murder in the first degree after he stabbed IDF soldier Almog Shiloni to death on November 11, 2014 at Tel Aviv’s HaHagana train station.
But the Supreme Court ruled that the 11-month delay between the date of the attack and the decision to demolish the terrorist’s family’s home was unreasonable.
The two judges wrote in their opinions that such a long delay undermines the intended deterrent effect of home demolitions. Rapid carrying out of such orders is central to fair and correct administration, wrote Judges Meni Mazuz and Tzvi Zylbertal.
Judge Elyakim Rubinstein wrote the minority opinion, contending that a partial demolition of the home would weigh fairly between the amount of time passed and execution of the order, and the need to create deterrence.
Yossef Shiloni, the father of the victim, expressed his outrage at the decision.
“The very least the state could have done was to demolish the terrorist’s home to calm us down a little. Nothing will bring back Almog, but it would have given us a bit more heart,” he told the Hebrew-language Yediot Acharonot.
As the trial continues, the distraught father said, the terrorist “laughs in our faces, yells at the court and humiliates us.”