US sanctions ex-IDF soldier Elor Azaria who killed wounded Palestinian stabber

The US State Department announces that it has sanctioned former IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria who in 2016 shot dead an incapacitated Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Azaria, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison but only served nine months, will be “generally” barred from entry into the US along with his immediate family members, the State Department says.

Since his release from prison, he has protested in support of soldiers accused of beating Palestinian suspects and appeared in a primary campaign ad for a Likud lawmaker.

Several months after his release he said in an interview that he had no regrets about the incident.

Azaria’s case revealed deep divisions in Israeli society over the army’s activities in the West Bank, with some — mostly on the right — arguing that he had behaved heroically in killing the Palestinian assailant, while others said he had broken the law and deserved a harsher sentence than he received.

The US says it is separately imposing visa restrictions on an additional group of unnamed individuals involved in carrying out attacks in the West Bank.

The State Department began issuing visa bans against violent settlers in December, though those designated are generally not publicized.

The Biden administration has for years urged Israel to clamp down on settler violence and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he took the step to begin imposing entry bans after concluding that Jerusalem was utterly failing to address the issue.

The US went further in February when US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allowed for more far-reaching financial sanctions to be imposed against Israeli extremists. The US has announced five batches of these sanctions, including last week.