Netanyahu joins call for Rivlin to reconsider pardoning Hebron shooter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a petition Monday calling on President Reuven Rivlin to reconsider his decision not to pardon an IDF soldier convicted of killing an incapacitated Palestinian attacker.

In rejecting Azaria’s pardon request last week, Rivlin said “an additional lightening of your sentence would harm the resilience of the Israel Defense Forces and the State of Israel.”

In addition to Netanyahu, those who signed the petition urging the president to rethink the decision on clemency for Elor Azaria included Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, Welfare Minister Haim Katz, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.

The petition, signed by 55 lawmakers in all, stated that Azaria had already suffered enough.

“The Azaria affair is tearing Israeli society apart, creating polarization and division, and your decision can put an end to all this and calm the discourse,” the petition reads. “It is impossible to ignore the feelings of the general public, that Elor Azaria is a scapegoat who has become a symbol and paid an especially high price,” Hadashot News (formerly Channel 2) reported.

In response, the president’s office said that it had not received the petition, and would not comment on it until it had done so. However, a spokesperson pointed out that applications for pardon can only be made by the person himself, his attorney or his first-degree relatives.

Yair Lapid, head of the opposition Yesh Atid party, denounced Netanyahu for signing the petition.

“Netanyahu’s signing of the petition to Rivlin is a direct attack on the president of Israel, the chief of staff and the IDF,” he posted on Twitter.

Other opposition lawmakers also voiced their disapproval including Meretz head Zehava Galon, Labor MK Nahman Shai and Dov Khenin, a Jewish lawmaker from the Joint (Arab) list.

MK Yehuda Glick, who is part of Netanyahu’s Likud party, expressed his displeasure without words, retweeting a news article about the prime minister signing the petition and adding a frowny face emoji.

https://twitter.com/YehudahGlick/status/935195898790973440

Azaria, at the time an enlisted serviceman in the IDF, shot and killed Palestinian stabber Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, who had been shot and disarmed some 11 minutes earlier, after he attacked soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron in March 2016.

He was convicted of manslaughter earlier this year.

Throughout his trial, Azaria said that he shot and killed Sharif because he feared the attacker was fitted with a bomb. A military court, however, dismissed the testimony, citing the soldier’s nonchalance in the moments before he opened fire and killed Sharif, and his statements to fellow soldiers that the assailant deserved to die for attacking his comrades.

He was sentenced in February 2017 to an 18-month prison term that was later commuted to 14 months by Gadi Eisenkot. Azaria had completed his army service by the time of his sentencing but is serving his time in a military prison.

Rivlin’s decision last week to reject Elor Azaria’s pardon request drew harsh criticism from many Israelis on social media. An image of him in an Arab keffiyeh circulating online prompted police to open an investigation.

Rivlin’s decision was also criticized by senior government officials, including Liberman and Culture Minister Miri Regev.