Republished April 27, 2022 - 4:57 AM
Original Publication Date April 27, 2022 - 3:56 AM
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court convicted seven Jewish men on Wednesday of inciting violence and terror and a slew of other charges for their involvement in a 2015 wedding in which participants celebrated an arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s court found the seven guilty of a raft of offenses after “glorifying with dance and song the murder of the Dawabsheh family" in a deadly West Bank firebombing by Jewish settler extremists in July 2015.
Another man, the singer at the wedding, was found not guilty. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for November, according to the Hebrew daily Haaretz.
The attack on the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank killed 18-month-old Ali and his parents Riham and Saad and drew condemnation from across Israel's political spectrum.
Months after the attack, a video from a wedding that aired on Israeli television appeared to show guests at a wedding brandishing rifles and dancing to music with lyrics calling for revenge, while some stabbed photos of Ali Dawabsheh.
The court found the men guilty on charges that included incitement to violence or terror, according to the Justice Ministry. One was found guilty of incitement to racism, supporting a terrorist group and illegal possession of a weapon, while another was found guilty of a weapon charge, according to Haaretz.
“I found that the inciting nature of the incident was apparent to all, clear, incontrovertible, and teaches among others two main messages folded into the actions: expression of support for the murder of an innocent family, and calling for revenge against Arabs,” the judge said.
News from © The Associated Press, 2022