‘I didn’t shoot for no reason,’ Hebron soldier tells court

The soldier who shot and killed a wounded Palestinian assailant in Hebron on March 24 defends his actions in court Tuesday.

At an appeal by military prosecutors against his release to an open arrest on a military base, the soldier reportedly tells Qastina military court that “if there had been an explosive belt, I’d be in the cemetery now, not in the court.”

He adds: “These Military Police investigators are in an office, not in the field where they can be shot at.”

According to the Walla and Ynet news sites, the soldier tells the court his hands were “covered in my wounded friend’s blood,” a reference to the IDF soldier who was moderately wounded by 21-year-old Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in a stabbing attack some 10 minutes before the shooting.

“I was emotional, and in a split second I decided to shoot,” Ynet quotes the soldier saying.

The reported testimony on his emotional state appears to contradict later testimony that he fired because he sensed he was in danger.

The soldier, who has not been named by the army, insists he was scared that al-Sharif might detonate an explosive vest, saying Tuesday, “I saw him move his hand and head. I didn’t shoot for no reason. I wouldn’t have fired if I didn’t feel I was in imminent danger.”