Judges affirm Azaria’s ‘original reason’ for killing Palestinian assailant was revenge

30 July 2017, 2:20 pm

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The appeals court in the Azaria case appears to dismiss the IDF sergeant’s claims that he feared the incapacitated Palestinian assailant, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was still a danger to fellow soldiers when he shot him.

Azaria first told his commanders that Sharif “deserved to die” because he had stabbed a friend and fellow soldier a few minutes before the shooting in March 2016.

Judges say “the original reason” given by Azaria for killing Sharif “in real time was the true reason for the act.” They call his admission that it was an act of revenge “his original and spontaneous response to the event,” when Azaria had still not had “a chance to consider a new version or take advice from attorneys.”