Video celebrating Palestinian baby’s death inflames Israel debate on Jewish

The 26-second video, posted to YouTube by Hareetz.com, shows a room full of teenagers wearing white skullcaps jumping, dancing with guns and firebombs at a wedding party while stabbing the photo of a 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, Palestinian toddler.

Among drivers for the bloodshed have been access to a contested Jerusalem shrine, stalled peace talks and a July 31 arson by suspected Jewish zealots that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents, an incident which Israeli authorities have not yet cleared up.

“The people of Israel strongly reject and condemn the celebration of murder which took place in a wedding of extreme right Israeli activists”, said Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Emanuel Nahshon.

With Israel hinting indictments in the Duma arson may be imminent, some of the suspects’ lawyers have accused Shin Bet state security investigators of trying to exact confessions with torture – an allegation they may use to challenge criminal charges in court.

The suspect’s family has said that he has attempted to commit suicide while in custody, and Shaked told the Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva that she has been in “close contact” with the head of the Shin Bet to “make sure red lines were not crossed” in the interrogation of the suspects after “complaints” were brought to her attention. Ali’s 4-year-old brother Ahmad, who suffered severe burns, is the only survivor.

Israeli media reported that the groom has previously been questioned over acts of “Jewish terrorism” while other attendees were friends or relatives of suspects arrested over the July firebombing. “This is a rejection and repudiation of the values of the Jewish people, of the Torah of Israel and the uniqueness of the Jewish people”, Chief Rabbi David Lau said in a statement.

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 surge in violence has been partly fuelled by Palestinian frustration over the collapse of US-sponsored peace talks in 2014, the growth of Jewish settlements on land they seek for a future state and Islamist calls for the destruction of Israel.

Naftali Bennett, leader of the settler party Jewish Home, declared that “the vision of the murderers in Duma is the opposite view from that of religious Zionism”, and labeled those who criticized the investigation into the attack as “hypocrites”.

Palestinians have killed 20 Israelis and a USA citizen since October. “That surreal dance with the picture of the baby who was murdered in his sleep represents a risky ideology and a loss of humanity”. “We must fight them, the way we fight Hamas and Hezbollah”.

Four Palestinians were killed in separate incidents Thursday, among them three who Israel said attacked soldiers in the West Bank, the AP said. Palestinians have since killed 19 Israelis, an American student and a Palestinian from the West Bank.