Comrade defends Hebron shooter, but says he would have stopped him

A comrade of the soldier on trial for shooting an incapacitated Palestinian assailant defended the action in Jaffa Military Court on Monday, but added that had he known what was about to happen, he would have tried to stop it.

On May 24, Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi stabbed an IDF soldier in Hebron before they were shot. Qasrawi was killed and Sharif was incapacitated. Several minutes later, when Sharif was lying on the ground barely moving, Sgt. Elor Azaria approached him, cocked his weapon, and shot him in the head, according to a video of the event that emerged later that day.

That afternoon, Azaria was arrested by Military Police and was later charged with manslaughter.

Azaria’s attorneys have argued that their client acted in self-defense, as the apparently disarmed attacker could have had a concealed explosive device or again used a knife to attack the soldiers in the area.

The prosecutors, meanwhile, claim the the shooting was unjustified and committed out of a desire for revenge, citing testimony from eyewitnesses who claim after the incident Azaria said Sharif “deserved to die.”

The unnamed Kfir Brigade soldier who testified Monday could be seen in the initial footage, taking Azaria’s helmet from him just before the shooting.

“If I knew what Elor was going to do, I would have stopped him,” the soldier said on the witness stand.

Afterwards, the soldier said, “I never heard Elor regret [his action], but I saw that his face had a look like he didn’t know what to do.”

Though he initially thought Azaria’s actions were incorrect, he said he was later convinced that his comrade’s course of action was correct.

“At first we thought that what Elor did was grave, but after we understood that it was possible the terrorist had a bomb, we realized that Elor acted properly and based on instinct,” the soldier said during his testimony.

However, though the soldier noted that there was “some concern” about a possible explosive device, he told the court, “but I didn’t think that.”

Last week, the Hebron-area brigade commander at the time of the incident, Col. Yariv Ben-Ezra, told the court that contrary to Azaria’s claims, he found no reason to suspect Sharif was armed with explosives.

“During the entire first phase a claim to that effect never reached me,” Ben-Ezra said. “The first time that this concern was raised was in the afternoon, through the media, when the incident was publicized.”

Ben Ezra also told the military tribunal that “in light of the investigation and initial debriefing in the field, and as all these details came together during the day, my assessment is that the shooting wasn’t justified.”

On Monday, Azaria’s comrade confirmed the allegation that after shooting Sharif, Azaria told his commander that the attacker “deserved to die” for stabbing his friend.

“I heard him say the sentence that they stabbed our friend and tried to kill him, and so he needed to die,” the soldier said.

Nearly half a million shekels in support

In the months after the attack, Azaria’s case has become a cause celebre for many prominent right-wing Israelis, including members of Knesset, local political leaders and celebrities, who have voiced support for the Kfir Brigade soldier.

In addition of expressing support, Azaria’s supporters have contributed nearly NIS 500,000 ($128,000) to the soldier’s legal defense within a few days through an online crowdfunding campaign.

More than 3,400 supporters have thus far contributed to the campaign, which was launched by former Knesset member Sharon Gal earlier this week.

Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told a Haredi radio station on Monday that he too planned to donate to the fund.

“In order for him to be able to defend himself in the best way possible, either I or my wife may [donate] today. It may definitely happen,” Katz said on the Kol Barama station.

The campaign to help in Azaria’s legal defense, hosted on the crowdsourced fundraising site Headstart, urged supporters of the soldier to “join us in mobilizing to help Elor Azaria and his family.”

“We send our children to the army, but in the face of a crisis caused by a complex military operation, there is no system that helps them deal with the difficulties. No one offers assistance to the families or to the male and female warriors facing the crisis alone and the heavy costs involved in such instances,” reads the campaign pitch.

“An appropriate legal defense is a basic human right, not to mention for a warrior who faced a terrorist and found himself in such a difficult situation during his mandatory military service,” it went on.

The pitch further argued that Israelis “could not stand by and leave Elor and his family without a defense” nor should they “let bureaucracy and politics prevail over basic morals and values.”