From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Liberman hints at support for Elor Azaria pardon
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleDefense Minister Avigdor Liberman drops his most explicit hint so far that he supports calls to pardon Elor Azaria, convicted in January of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Palestinian stabber in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Sharing a Facebook article on a British court decision to shorten the sentence of a Royal Marine convicted of killing a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, Liberman wrote: “In Britain they understand that you need to be lenient with soldiers fighting terrorists, even if they have made a mistake.”
Alexander Blackman was convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years by a military court in 2013 for the September 2011 killing in Helmand Province. The Tuesday ruling means he will likely be released from prison within weeks.
Footage from another marine’s helmet camera showed Blackman shooting the militant in the chest at close range, then saying: “Obviously this doesn’t go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.”
The article shared by Liberman referred to Blackman as “the British Elor Azaria.” Azaria was filmed shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif.
Liberman, who had urged a pardon for Azaria before he took up the top defense job last year, refrained from explicitly calling for Azaria to be pardoned after he was handed an 18-month prison sentence last month. In a Facebook post, he did, however, take pains to note the mitigating circumstances surrounding the case, and seemed to hint that a pardon might be advisable.
The Times of Israel Community.