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Photo: Gil Yohanan
MK Moti Yogev
Photo: Gil Yohanan

MK partially blames High Court for next murder of IDF soldiers

Bayit Yehudi's Moti Yogev attacks judicial bodies after he demands that they sanction demolition of home of terrorist who killed 2 soldiers in car-ramming attack; ‘The HCJ reduces IDF's deterrence powers and it needs to know its place.'

A Bayit Yehudi MK accused the High Court of Justice (HCJ) Sunday of being responsible for reducing the IDF’s deterrence capabilities by prohibiting the demolition of terrorists’ houses, adding that its actions will make it partially culpable for the next terror attack on soldiers.

 

 

“The High Court of Justice is party to reducing the deterrence powers of IDF soldiers and the State of Israel in the next murder—not us—because it doesn’t allow home demolitions,” MK Moti Yogev said. 

 

The controversial comments were made during a radio interview and came against a background of his request to demolish the homes of terrorists, especially that belonging to Alaa Kabha who on Friday rammed into a patrol of IDF soldiers with his car on route 585 between the settlements of Mevo Dotan and Hermesh, killing two of the soldiers—an officer and a conscript—and moderately-to-seriously wounding two others.

 

MK Moti Yogev (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
MK Moti Yogev (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

 

“We can’t rely on the excuses that the HCJ doesn’t allow (home demolition). We need to put the court to the side for 72 hours and not to consider its castrating opinion,” Yogev said.

 

“Seventy-two hours is a long enough period of time to clarify whether there is any connection whatsoever between the family, the parents, brothers and sisters,” he added before mocking the court itself. 

 

“The High Court is a kind of La La Land which doesn’t live in Israel. The judges that it contains, including (Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut), need to know their place. The HCJ has to do some serious repentance, to fix itself and not interfere with security and policy decisions. It isn’t its place. It isn’t within its authority and the Israeli government needs to take the steering wheel into its hands.”

 

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was quick to criticize Yogev for his comments, taking to Twitter to call for his ouster from a Knesset committee.

 

“Bayit Yehudi must immediately suspend Moti Yogev from the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee for his comments about the HCJ. This is incitement against the rule of law which cannot be overlooked in silence,” he wrote. 

 

MK Karin Elharar, also from Yesh Atid, joined her party leader in slamming Yogev. “It’s a shame that MK Yogev is exploiting this painful incident for the Israeli people in order to incite against the courts and the rule of law,” she said.

 

Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

 

“Even if Yogev wants to criticize the decisions of the court, it would be appropriate for him to express it with respect. I trust the Supreme Court and its president which took the decision with the appropriate consideration and which will carry out justice where it is required.”

 

MK Revital Swid, from the Zionist Union, described Yogev as an “irresponsible populist” who doesn’t hesitate “for a second to incite without thinking that our soldiers are being given the false message that the HCJ is abandoning their lives.”

 

MK Yair Lapid (Photo: Hillel Meir/TPS)
MK Yair Lapid (Photo: Hillel Meir/TPS)

 

She also went on to condemn Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett for failing to speak up on the matter.

 

“Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett’s silence, and that of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked—who stands at the helm of the judicial system—who didn’t condemn the remarks, is terrible. They cannot ignore them in silence.”

 

It’s not the first time that Yogev has voiced his contempt for the courts’ rulings. In 2015, he advocated turning a D9 tractor on the HCJ itself after it unanimously rejected an appeal that called for the prevention of the demolition of a disputed area in Beit El in the West Bank.

 

“We as a legislative system will see to it that the judicial system and this tail wagging the dog in the state is restrained,” he said at the time.

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.18.18, 19:08
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