Hebron soldier to take the stand in manslaughter trial

An Israeli soldier facing manslaughter charges for killing an incapacitated Palestinian attacker in March will testify in his defense for the first time on Sunday, in a trial that has divided Israelis.

Sgt. Elor Azaria will offer his version of the events of March 24, when he was filmed shooting Palestinian assailant Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head, nearly 15 minutes after al-Sharif was shot by soldiers as he attempted to stab an IDF soldier in Hebron.

Azaria was arrested by the Military Police later in the day, and was indicted on manslaughter charges on April 18.

His testimony is set to begin at 9 a.m. at the Jaffa Military Court. It is scheduled to last three days. It comes after the prosecution finished calling its witnesses to the stand, including Azaria’s commander, a B’Tselem activist who filmed the incident and others.

On Sunday, he will be questioned by his own attorneys, followed in the next two days by cross-examination by prosecutors.

His defense has argued that he had reason to believe that his life was in danger when he fired the single bullet into al-Sharif’s head.

“This is the first time Elor will testify in court, and so his account of what happened will no longer be based on selective or biased quotes,” one of his lawyers, Ilan Katz, told Army Radio Sunday. “His full disclosure of the incident to the military court will make the picture clearer. The allegation is that Elor’s version is ‘fabricated,’ but many of the remarks he made after the incident were made without an attorney present.”

A fellow soldier in his company defended his actions to the court earlier this month, testifying that while he initially thought Azaria’s actions were incorrect, he was later convinced on their necessity.

“If I knew what Elor was going to do, I would have stopped him,” the soldier, who has not been publicly identified, 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.

“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.

Most of the testimonies heard thus far in the trial, including from Azaria’s company, battalion and brigade commanders, contradicted his defense.

Earlier this month, Azaria’s battalion commander, Lt.-Col. David Shapira, testified that Azaria was an exemplary soldier until the incident, but that he believed Azaria had fired in order to exact revenge, and not out of fear that he was in danger.