Police have opened a criminal investigation after a shocking video emerged last night showing right-wing extremists celebrating the murder of the Palestinian Dawabshe family in Duma last the summer.
The video was taken at the recent wedding in Jerusalem of a couple well-known in far-right circles, and published on Channel 10. It shows several dozen celebrants - including children - dancing while waving knives, guns and a molotov cocktail, as one masked individual brandishes a poster of Ali Dawabshe, the 18-month-old baby who was among three family members murdered in the arson. At one point, the poster is stabbed with a knife.
Many of those present at the wedding are friends of the suspects currently being held by the Shin Bet security services under suspicion of being behind the attack.
Police say they have gathered a great deal of damning evidence of incitement from the wedding, much of which was not shown in the Channel 10 footage.
The evidence was initially handed to the State Prosecutor, who yesterday afternoon recommended to the police's nationalist crime unit that a criminal probe be opened into incitement and other possible crimes committed. Police are also investigating various infringement of firearms laws, as pistols and an army-issued assault-rifle were passed around the crowd in apparent violation of the law.
This morning (Tuesday) MK Amir Peretz (Zionist Union) issued a request to the Attorney General and Chief of Police to open an urgent investigation into what he called the "murderers' dance."
He said the footage gave him "goosebumps" and made his "hair stand on end."
It was clear from the video that the dancers were "celebrating murder, because they are the same people who murdered and burned Judaism and its Torah; Zionism and its purpose. The Attorney General must order an urgent and thorough investigation."
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein was among several senior officials to condemn the video.
"Those who are familiar with the extreme and dangerous types operating at the margins of society should not be surprised at the revelations of sickening hatred exposed in the "wedding video" of the extreme-right," he said.
"With this, it is important to say unequivocally: This wild, dangerous mindset must be denounced and dealt with at its roots - and the sooner, the better.
"It undermines Jewish and human ethics, and could even bring disaster to the settlement enterprise itself."
Other right-wing politicians were also quick to condemn the video, including Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and MK Betzalel Smotrich, both of the Jewish Home party.
Smotrich said the video illustrated the "evil price tag ideology," which he said "is not the way of religious-Zionism, period."
"The demonic dance with the picture of the murdered baby represents a dangerous ideology and the loss of humanity," he added.
Ariel voiced similar outrage, branding the footage "shocking" and emphasizing: "This is not the path of Zionism and this is not the path of the settlement movement."
Prime Minister Netanyahu also spoke out, implying the evidence of support for the Duma arson proved the importance of backing the Shin Bet in its controversial investigation, which has included harsh interrogation methods branded as torture by defense attorneys.
"The shocking images broadcast tonight show the true face of a group that constitutes a threat to Israeli society and Israel’s security," he declared. "We will not accept people who violate the state’s laws and do not see themselves as bound by them."
Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau also harshly condemned the video, saying it stood in direct contrast to Jewish values.
The religious-Zionist Tzohar rabbical association also issued a statement of condemnation Tuesday morning.
"The deeply disturbing video clip should be viewed as a source of disgust and embarrassment for all of Israeli society. We call on all rabbis, political leaders and educators and all those who claim to represent these extremist evildoers to condemn their actions and positions in all ways possible and work to expel them from our midst," the statement read.
"Our responsibility must be to defend and support our security forces who work tirelessly every day and night to defend us from those enemies who are committed to our national and personal destruction," the statement added, in reference to the anarchistic ideology behind the extremists.