Prosecution pounces on Hebron soldier for inconsistencies

Military prosecutors attack apparent inconsistencies in the testimony of an IDF soldier on trial for manslaughter for killing a disarmed and wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron in March.

Sgt. Elor Azaria tells Jaffa Military Court that he saw Abdel Fattah al-Sharif move some two minutes before shooting him. The statement appears to contradict an earlier account in which Azaria claimed to have opened fire in a split-second decision, as he feared the prone attacker was wearing an explosive vest.

“You decided to shoot him two minutes before you actually fired,” chief prosecutor Lt.-Col. Nadav Weissman tells Azaria before screening footage of the shooting to the court.

“That not true,” Azaria replies. “I didn’t stand there with a timer. You’re trying to catch me out with word games.”

Weissman then asks Azaria to identify the moment when he suspected Sharif was still armed.

After Azaria is unable to do so, Weissman tells him: “The fact that you can’t point to that point proves that you didn’t shoot out of fear, but for other reasons.”

“That is your opinion, but I shot in order to save lives,” Azaria replies. “If I did shoot him out of revenge, I would have walked up to him and shot him in the head at point black range.”

— Tamar Pileggi