Jerusalem Court Finds 7 Jewish Men Guilty of Incitement for Celebrating Palestinian Family’s Deaths
An Israeli court has found seven Jewish men guilty of inciting violence and terror for celebrating the deaths of members of a Palestinian family killed in a Jewish arson attack in the West Bank Palestinian village of Duma in 2015. The Jerusalem Magistrate Court on Wednesday said the men were guilty of “glorifying with dance and song the murder of the Dawabsheh family” at a wedding in Jerusalem. Some were also convicted on illegal weapons charges. An eighth defendant, the singer at the wedding, was not convicted after the judges determined he was not aware that there would be celebrating and that he did not participate in it. The firebomb attack had killed an 18-month-old infant and his parents; another young child survived. The defendants danced in celebration of the murders with guns and knives while stabbing a photograph of the dead infant. “This was an exhibition of joy over the murder of innocents, with songs and dance to rally those present. The defendants exhibited their inciteful messages in their songs, which called for revenge,” Judge Eitan Cohen said in announcing the decision. The men’s lawyers said that while their behavior was ugly, it was not criminal.
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