Saleh Diab, a resident of the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood and a terrorist who was convicted and imprisoned for attacking Jews, has filed a petition against the intention to return his house in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood to Jewish ownership.

Diab was accompanied to court by MK Ofer Kassif of the Hadash party, while during the hearing there were pro-Palestinian demonstrations by Arab protesters who opposed the expulsion of terrorist Diab's family from the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood.

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Aryeh King told Arutz Sheva, "We are here in the district court facing the supporters of the enemy, but I don't care if they continue to demonstrate, continue to cry - and we will continue to build."

"I told them a long time ago, we will take you out of your homes one by one and we will build," King added.

King noted that in the past two weeks, two new construction plans have been approved: "The Or Sameach complex - a Jewish neighborhood that will be built there, and another 600 housing units."

Referring to the protesters, he added, "They are also getting smaller, an extremist and violent minority, and we will continue to guide the State of Israel and Jerusalem as we do."

When asked about the presence of MK Ofer Kassif at the demonstrations, he replied, "Let him continue to come here, let him do what he wants. I don't care, I enjoy that they are protesting, because it means that we are doing the right things. After all, if we weren't building, if we weren't evicting them from our homes - then they wouldn't be protesting. So the more protests there are, the more correct steps we are taking."

King emphasized his commitment to continuing construction in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood: "The neighborhood will be built. The Arabs who live in the Jewish homes – we will evict them."

The Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood was a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem before the Jews were ethnically cleansed from the area by Jordan in the 1948 War of Independence. After Jerusalem was liberated in 1967, Israel passed laws allowing Jewish property owners to reclaim much of their properties that were seized by the Jordanian government