Israeli police have opened an investigation into the wedding of two right-wing Israelis after video footage from the event showed violent incitement by the attendees for the murder of Palestinians.
Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement that the investigation was opened due to "numerous and serious offenses seen in the video” from the Jerusalem wedding held two weeks ago.
The video shows Israelis present at the wedding dancing and singing songs about revenge while waving knives and guns in the air.
At one point during the ceremony, a masked Israeli youth waves a firebomb while another stabs a photo of Ali Dawabsha, an 18-month-old Palestinian burned alive in an arson attack carried out by Jewish extremists over the summer.
The infant’s parents later died from severe burns, leaving their four-year-old child Ahmad as the sole survivor of the attack.
After Israeli news Channel 10 aired clips from the wedding video, it was transferred to the attorney general who decided Wednesday that an investigation would be opened, al-Samri said.
Channel 10 reported that guns issued by the Israeli army as well as licensed pistols were passed around at the reception from hand to hand, including children, according to Israeli media.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the wedding was for a couple “very well known in the radical right," and was condemned by Israeli politicians across the board.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the video showed "the real face of a group that poses danger to Israeli society and security,” the daily said.
Controversy over the video erupted as the suspects in the Dawabsha murder case have yet to be convicted, and Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet has received push-back from right-wing groups over its conduct in the investigation
The Shin Bet last week warned that the case revealed the growing threat of Jewish terror organizations against the Israeli state as well as regional security.
Israel has received criticism from the international community and rights groups in the past regarding government policies that allow Israeli settlers to attack Palestinians with total immunity, and the case of the Dawabsha murders have been followed closely.
Suspected Israeli extremists on Tuesday attacked a West Bank Palestinian home with tear gas, spray painting the phrases “revenge” and “hello from the detainees of Zion” in Hebrew on the side of the home.
