Wedding Video Shows Jewish Extremists Celebrating the Death of Palestinian Baby

Video footage of Jewish extremists mocking the death by arson of a Palestinian baby has sparked outrage and a police investigation in Israel.

Aired on Israel's Channel 10 television late on Wednesday, the clip showed a Jerusalem wedding at which one dancing celebrant stabbed a picture of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh while others waved assault rifles, knives, and what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail.

The boy and his parents died when their home in the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank was set ablaze in July in an incident Israeli officials described as "Jewish terrorism."

The arson, and delays in solving the case, although Israel has several suspects in custody, contributed to the outbreak of the worst Palestinian street violence in years.

The Judea and Samaria district police confirmed in a statement on Thursday that it is investigating the footage and the "numerous and serious offenses seen in the video."

The parents of the groom, Yakir Eshbal, told Israel's Channel 2 that they and their son were unaware of the dance and only learned about it later.

"I saw from a distance that they were holding up photos. I said maybe they were photos of the detainees (in the Duma case), or Jewish victims of terrorism," said Shahar Eshbal, the groom's father, insisting that he was wholly ignorant that a photo showed Dawabshe. "If we would have known, we would have stopped everything there (and then). I would have got up on the stage and said that this was not done with our agreement and that we totally oppose all this."

He claimed that his son didn't know the people involved in the video, and said that they had effectively hijacked the wedding.

"Yakir has only just begun his life and he's been drawn into this massive turmoil, like the rest of us," the father remarked.

Almost daily stabbings, shootings and car-rammings by Palestinians have killed 20 Israelis and a US citizen since October. Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 121 Palestinians, 72 of whom authorities described as assailants, while others died in clashes with security forces.

On Thursday, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two security guards near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and was then shot dead, Israeli police said.

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.

Related: Palestinian Baby Burnt to Death in Suspected 'Jewish Terror' Attack

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the Shin Bet's methods as lawful and said the wedding video was proof of the need to spare no effort in curbing violent Jewish zealots.

"The shocking pictures that were broadcast… show the true face of a group that constitutes a danger to Israeli society and to the security of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"We are not prepared to accept people who deny the laws of the state and do not view themselves as subject to them. The pictures underscore how important a strong Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) is to the security of us all."

Netanyahu's condemnation was echoed within his coalition government, though one allied far-right lawmaker demurred.

Bezalel Smotrich, whose Jewish Home party is a powerful partner of Netanyahu's conservative Likud, voiced suspicion about the leak of the wedding video, which Channel 10 said had originally been seized by state investigators.

Related: Israel 'Ignored Warnings' on Jewish Terror Cells Before Attack That Killed 18-Month-Old Baby

"My concern is that someone in the security establishment released this clip, at this time, in order to try to grant legitimacy to those aberrant interrogation methods, which apparently include unacceptable use of violence, against people from this group," Smotrich told Israel's Army Radio.

Israeli police said they were investigating whether the actions at the wedding, which Channel 10 says took place in Jerusalem last week, constitute an incitement to violence.