Yesh Atid praises Azaria conviction, urges pardon

Members of the opposition Yesh Atid party take a typically centrist — some might say paradoxical — approach to the Azaria verdict, simultaneously praising the court and the army for convicting him and urging he be pardoned.

Azaria, party leader Yair Lapid, writes in a Facebook post, “is a soldier who made a grave mistake under difficult circumstances.”

He hopes, he writes, “that Elor’s commanders will consider a pardon that will let him and his family get back to their lives, but that is a decision left to his commanders alone.

“Politicians,” Lapid, a politician, adds, “should shop intervening in what happens in the military system. I commend the chief of staff and the court for their brave stand for the army’s values.”

Lapid is echoed by fellow Yesh Atid MK Yaakov Perry, a former head of the Shin Bet security agency.

He says in a statement that “despite the difficulty and sorrow that we all feel over the fact that a combat soldier was sentenced to prison, it is incumbent upon us to respect the court’s decision.”

He then adds, “If an appeal isn’t mounted, it’s certainly appropriate to consider a pardon or a reduction of the sentence.”