Reactions to sentence pouring in

Everyone and their mother is throwing in their two cents about the military court’s sentence. Human Rights Watch hails the decision, saying “Sending Elor Azaria to prison for his crime sends an important message about reining in excessive use of force.”

“But senior Israeli officials should also repudiate the shoot-to-kill rhetoric that too many of them have promoted, even when there is no imminent threat of death. Pardoning Azaria or reducing his punishment would only encourage impunity for unlawfully taking the life of another person.”

Former Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheim writes on Twitter that the sentence was “embarrassing in its leniency, and even more embarrassing is the conduct of politicians who still demand pardon for a man who shot a terrorist in the head, because he deserved it.”

“A bloodthirsty state and the desire for revenge,” he writes.

Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah writes on Facebook that “the sentencing of Elor Azaria should be the end of this painful episode. We must say enough to the politicians who used cheap populism on the back of Elor and his family, threatening the values of the army and the ability of the commanders to carry it out.”

“Nobody is happy to see Elor go to jail, despite the fact that he did something which should not have been done. However an immediate pardon would make a mockery of the system of commands and laws of the army… With parole he received the minimum sentence and this is how it should be,” Shelah writes.

“Our task now is to stand behind the IDF chief of staff and against those who attacked him solely for political reasons. This is what we have done and what we will continue to do.”

Likud MK Yehuda Glick tweets praise for “the military legal system for its balanced sentence.”