Israel maintains that its policy of destroying the homes of Palestinian terrorists creates deterrence and discourages others from carrying out attacks. 

Israeli forces on Monday morning demolished the homes of two Palestinian terrorists who stabbed and murdered two Israelis at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City in December.

The IDF said in a statement that pursuant to an order by the Israeli government, it destroyed the homes of Issa Yassin Yussef Assaf and Annan Mohammed Salah Hamed in Qalandiya, just north of Jerusalem.

The two terrorists murdered Ofer Ben Ari, 46 and a father of two, and Rabbi Reuven Biermacher, 45 and the father of seven.

Both terrorists were killed by Israeli forces at the scene.

Hundreds of Palestinians rioted as the Israeli forces operated to demolish the terrorists’ homes. The rioters threw rocks, cement blocks and firebombs at the forces and shot at them. The soldiers responded by using crowd dispersal means and live fire. Six Palestinians were wounded during the violence, according to the IDF.

During the operation, IDF forces uncovered an M16 assault rifle, two pipe bombs and several firebombs.

The demolition of terrorists’ homes are meant to serve as deterrence for potential terrorists who are plotting future attacks and are part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to contend with the recent wave of Palestinian terror attacks, which has claimed the lives of 39 Israeli victims in the past 10 months.

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel