VIDEO - The Jerusalem District Prosecution filed an indictment on Wednesday against Bar-Ilan Professor Hillel Weiss, who was caught on camera cursing the commander of the IDF's Hebron Brigade during the eviction of two Jewish families from the West Bank city's marketplace in August 2007.
In the indictment, filed with the Magistrates' Court in the capital, Weiss was charged with incitement to violence, intimidation and offending a public official.
During the incident Weiss told Colonel Yehuda Fox “may your mother be bereaved, your wife be widowed, your children be orphaned and may you be struck down in the next war and any memory of you be erased."
Following the episode, which was caught on tape by Ynet's cameraman, the head of the Investigation Unit at the Judea and Samaria police launched a criminal examination of the statements, which turned Thursday into a full-fledged investigation.
The indictment further mentioned that two weeks prior to the 2006 Gay Pride Parade Weiss said during an interview with Channel 1 that stated that he endorses "all means to wipe away this abomination from the holy city of Jerusalem, even acts of Pinchas."
Biblical Pinchas Ben-Eliezer, a zealous priest, stabbed an Israelite and a Midianite woman while they were copulating.
Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said following the incident in Hebron, "There is nothing left to say but to express contempt at these words. Woe to a society that doesn't cherish its fighters, and woe to those who curse their protectors."
Weiss eventually succumbed to public pressure and issued an apology to Colonel Fox, saying "I myself was a paratrooper and a soldier in elite units. I wish all the soldiers and all the people of Israel and all the residents of this country and region complete safety, and not destruction God forbid."
He clarified, however, that "for the avoidance of doubt, under absolutely no circumstances do I regret my religious Jewish ideological views. The rights of the Jews in Israel are inherent, holy and must not be harmed.
However, IDF sources told Ynet the military rejected Weiss' apology, saying it lacked sincerity.
First published: 12:43, 08.13.8