Soldier defends Hebron shooter Azaria in court

A corporal who served alongside soldier Elor Azaria, on trial for the shooting death of a wounded Palestinian assailant, backs his former comrade and says he and others feel the state has sold the accused soldier down the river.

“If the terrorist had a bomb we would have died, and so Elor saved me and another 4-5 soldiers in the unit,” he testifies in Jaffa military court. “There’s a feeling that the state is not giving Elor support.”

At the same time, the soldier says he and other soldiers learned that they don’t need to worry about bombs in the Hebron region, where the March 24 incident took place.

“According to what we learned, there is no threat of bombs in Hebron. They never spoke to us about bombs,” he says.

Azaria, who was filmed shooting and killing a wounded Palestinian assailant who had just stabbed another soldier, has claimed in the manslaughter trial he fired the shot because he feared the attacker, who was unarmed, had a bomb.

The army says in shooting the attacker, Azaria did not follow procedure for a bomb threat.