MKs demand: Raze Jerusalem terrorist's home

Knesset Member Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) warned Thursday that the latest streak of terror attacks in Jerusalem was a direct result of Israel's failing deterrence.

Aharonovitch spoke in response to Thursday morning's stabbing attack in Jerusalem, which claimed the life of 86-year-old Avraham Ozeri and left a police officer moderately wounded.

Ozeri was a resident of the Gilo neighborhood in the capital.

The MK, who served as deputy police chief, urged Defense Minister Ehud Barak to "take aggressive action against the Palestinian terror" and order the razing of the terrorist's house.

The terrorist was shot by the officers he attacked and taken to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, suffering from abdominal injuries.

Scene of Jerusalem attack (Photo: Gil Yohanan) 

MK Yohanan Plesner (Kadima) reiterated the sentiment: "The terrorist's house must be razed. The red tape we encounter after every attack must be cut, in order to enable us to create effective deterrence," he said.

"Our policy of restraint has led to a series of attacks on Jerusalem," added National Religious Party Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev. "The government has to wake up and set a clear price tag, which calls for terrorists' homes to be torn down."

MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), however, was against the move: "I'm against any collective punishment. It stands against international law. Furthermore, IDF data indicates that razing houses is not an effective means of deterrence – it only leads to more frustration and anger and more atrocities."

MK Ran Cohen (Meretz-Yahad) said he too was against tearing down the terrorist's house: "We all know that tearing down houses accomplishes nothing but invoking more hate," he said.

Similar demands to raze terrorists' homes were made by various MKs after the July attack on Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem and two other attacks in which Palestinian drivers ran down pedestrians in the capital's streets.