As public debate raged around a video from a wedding in which someone held up a firebomb and a photo of a murdered Arab baby, Shahar Eshbal, the father of the groom, said Thursday that he got no sleep last night.
"There is great sorrow," he told Radio Kol Baramah. "We had the joy of marrying off the first son. Everything was happy. There was a moment of stupidity by some youths, and we are paying a heavy price."
Eshbal said he did not notice the photo of the baby or the firebomb at the wedding, and did not expect the public storm that erupted. "We were present at the event," he explained, "but naturally, people who come to an occasion like that walk around and you do not control what happens. It is something that suddenly surprised us."
"My son belongs to the 'Hilltop Youth,'" he said. "He did, in the past. He has married and has not been part of these things for a while. He has been out of the loop for a year. He specifically told me, 'I did not see all those who were at the wedding.' Some arrived without being invited and provoked the story. We did not agree to this and we oppose it."
"We are people who served the country," Eshbal added. "We did not educate our children to be violent. My son did not serve in the army – he belonged to that group. These boys are not all negative. There is a certain atmosphere on the streets, against this group."
Eshbal speculated that "someone may have intentionally wanted to turn everything around," because of the accusations that the suspects in the arson murder in the village of Duma last July have been tortured by the Israel Security Agency.
The wedding video shows people dancing and singing a song of revenge while holding guns and knives in the air. Someone can also be seen holding a firebomb and a picture of the Arab baby who was murdered in the Duma attack.