Lecturer suspected of incitement won't be indicted

The State Prosecutor's Office announced Thursday it was closing the file against Dr. Eyal Nir, a lecturer at the Ben Gurion University who was suspected of incitement to violence.

A prominent leftist activist and senior chemistry lecturer, Nir had called on Facebook to "break the necks" of rightist activists who participated in the Flag Dance in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in June 2011.

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"I call on the world to come and help break these bastards' necks," he wrote. Nir described the rightist activists as "gangs of bandits."

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel demanded that a criminal investigation be launched in Nir's case in October 2011. Police then launched a probe and recently presented the evidence to the State Prosecutor's Office.

In a message to the Forum, the State said that while the statement is grave indeed, there are no grounds to prosecute Dr. Nir. The State cited lack of evidence as the reason behind closing the case.

'I'm against violence'

It further stated that it had taken into consideration a statement issued by Nir two weeks after the event, in which he admitted his mistake and proclaimed he was against any act of violence.

"I was wrong. I am committed to the principle of no violence and believe that fights should be handled peacefully," he said at the time.

The State noted that Nir had repeated these remarks during his interrogation and that he explained that his original post was written at the heat of the moment and had been misunderstood.

The prosecution sent a copy of the letter to the Ben Gurion University allowing it to consider disciplinary action.

The Forum said they intend to appeal the decision. "The law enforcement system cannot stay silent in the face of such blatant incitement to murder," Forum director Nachi Eyal said.

The Ben Gurion University said in response, "Dr. Nir published the statements as a private person on his personal Facebook account. The university is not party to the matter."

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