Former MK’s son indicted for praising gay parade stabbing
In Facebook posts, Gilad Kleiner endorsed the attack and celebrated the death of 16-year-old Shira Banki
State prosecutors on Thursday filed an indictment against Kiryat Malachi resident Gilad Kleiner — the son of a former Likud Knesset member — for allegedly praising and endorsing the deadly attack last week at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade.
In a Facebook post last Friday, a day after the stabbings, Kleiner hailed the suspect in the attack, Yishai Schlissel, and expressed regret that he had not managed to hurt more participants.
Kleiner was then briefly arrested, but was released by Saturday night. He was arrested again Monday after taking to Facebook to celebrate the death of 16-year-old Shira Banki, who had succumbed to her wounds from the attack while she was hospitalized in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. The post about Banki was a violation of the terms of his earlier release, prosecutors said.
Kleiner’s indictment, filed Thursday in the Ashdod Magistrate’s Court, is for incitement to violence, incitement to racism and violating a court-ordered house arrest.
גלעד קליינר שנעצר אחרי שהביע שמחה על מותה של שירה בנקי: ״אני לא אמור להרגיש אמפתיה על מי שמבזה את עיר הקודש״ pic.twitter.com/bt39vkFAGj
— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) August 3, 2015
Prosecutors have asked the court to extend his remand for the duration of the investigation and trial, according to the Ynet news site. Kleiner’s posts, they said, “have a real possibility of bringing others to carry out additional violent acts, at his encouragement and inspiration.”
Kleiner’s attorney, far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, said the arrests by police and prosecutors only played into Kleiner’s hands by giving him the attention he sought.
Kleiner is the son of former Knesset member Michael Kleiner, a long-time Likud member who later broke off to form the Herut party.