Wednesday, March 9, 2022, 21:12 On the evening of Wednesday, March 9, in light of a petition to the High Court of Justice filed by Honenu on behalf of the Yoshvaev family, the police announced that they would remove the barriers surrounding the family’s house in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem. The barriers prevented all visitors – including relatives, friends, and workmen needed for repairs due to extensive vandalism – from accessing the family’s house.
In response to the petition, the State of Israel responded that the barriers were set up under the authority of the police and out of professional concerns for maintaining the security of lives, property and public order. The police added that over the past few days, they removed two of the barriers that blocked access to the family’s house and also an additional barrier nearby. After the police remove all of the barriers, they will continue to follow the changes that have occurred since the rioting began in the neighborhood, and if there is a need, they will return them.
In the petition, the Yoshvaev family claimed that workmen and friends who wanted to help repair damage from a fire that Arabs had set in mid-February needed to have access to the house and were prevented by the barriers. The petition also claimed that the decision to put up the barriers was not proportional and that the family had never been approached with regard to understanding the harm caused to them by the siege at this difficult time.
Honenu Attorney Ophir Steiner, who is representing the Yoshvaev family: “It is sad to see that only a petition to the High Court of Justice led to the Israel Police giving thought to the severe violations of the family’s rights that they had caused when they acted unreasonably and disproportionally, far beyond the restraint that the legislature requires when they exercise their authority. We are happy for the young family who can now return to their home and recover from the fire. We hope that from now on the police will know to pay attention to potential injury to individuals and to their rights.
“The police are expected to prevent injury to the individual by enforcing the law against violent elements, not by restricting the victim. In this context, we are pleased with the efforts by the police and the GSS that recently led to putting the terrorists who injured Tal [Yoshvaev] on trial for serious crimes.”