Middle East Monitor / October 11, 2022
The Israeli Public Security Minister denied a request by the extreme far-right nationalist politician and Interior Minister, Ayelet Shaked, to forcibly remove a Palestinian family from their home in Jerusalem.
Omer Bar-Lev expressed concerns regarding the escalation of violence amid the Yom Kippur celebrations and will, therefore, wait till the celebrations are over.
It comes after an Israeli appeal court granted permission last month to continue the illegal collective punishment against 17 innocent members of a Palestinian family, five years after the killing of four Israeli soldiers by Fadi al-Qanbar. The attack took place in occupied Jerusalem in 2017.
Following the ruling, Shaked announced that, not only would she revoke his family’s residency permits, but she would also work to deport family members to the occupied West Bank. Israel argued that the goal of revoking residency is a deterrent, which the court upheld, while admitting that it is a “difficult” result.
Moreover, Shaked ordered the implementation of the order, requesting that Bar Lev prepare the Occupation authorities to expel the family by 6 October. However, Bar Lev replied that the police had asked him to wait before expelling the family.
In response, Shaked accused Bar Lev of negligence and inaction, claiming that failure to expel the family encourages the Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks.
Collective punishment is one of the most extreme measures that Israel has employed against the Palestinians. After it extended its occupation to the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, it became a regular practice, not least with punitive house demolitions.
By definition, this is intended to harm people who have done nothing illegal and are not suspected of any wrongdoing; they just happen to be related to someone who has attacked or attempted to attack Israelis.
Under international humanitarian law, no person may be punished for acts that he or she did not commit. The collective punishment of a group of persons for a crime committed by an individual is, thus, illegal, whether in the case of prisoners of war or of any other individuals. More controversially, international law permits those living under military occupation – the Palestinians, for example – to engage in resistance to the occupation using any means at their disposal.
