Hebron soldier’s family blasts son’s ‘disgraceful’ conviction
Defense team for Sgt. Elor Azaria accuses court of bias, vows to appeal manslaughter verdict in killing of injured Palestinian stabber
The family of an IDF soldier convicted Wednesday of manslaughter for shooting dead a disarmed and injured Palestinian attacker burst into tears as the verdict was read out in a courtroom at the IDF’s Tel Aviv headquarters.
Members of IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria’s family reportedly shouted at the justices that the decision was “a disgrace.”
Azaria’s demeanor drastically changed as the judge read the verdict.
Dressed in a green army uniform, he had entered the courtroom smiling, with family members and supporters applauding him.
But he and his family later looked shaken as the judge spoke, with his mother and father huddling together.
After the verdict, his mother, Oshra, yelled, “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Azaria’s father, Charlie, said after the ruling that “the court had accepted the B’Tselem version,” a reference to the rights group that published a video showing Azaria shooting the assailant, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, in the head nearly 15 minutes after the latter had been shot and wounded as he attempted to stab an IDF soldier in Hebron, on March 24.
A panel of three judges delivered the unanimous verdict on Azaria, 19, at the army’s Kirya headquarters, a change of venue from the Jaffa Military Court’s usual meeting place in the city’s south. Judge Colonel Maya Heller spent nearly three hours reading out the background of the court decision before reaching the final verdict.
The eventual conviction was expected, as an acquittal would have been announced immediately with the start of the court proceedings.
Sharon Gal, family spokesman and former lawmaker, told reporters, “It was like the court was detached from the fact that this was the area of an attack. I felt that the court picked up the knife from the ground and stabbed all of the soldiers in the back with it.”
There is no minimum sentence for manslaughter and the maximum prison time is 20 years. Azaria will be sentenced at a later date. A number of lawmakers from both the right and left have called for the soldier to be pardoned.
Azaria’s legal team, speaking to media outside the courtroom, accused the court of bias and vowed to appeal.
“We said from the outset that the court was with the prosecution,” said attorney Ilan Katz, bemoaning the “tough” verdict. His colleague Eyal Besserglick accused the judges of “hostility” toward the defense during the proceedings, and said Heller had “giggled” while reading the decision.
As news of the conviction reached scores of activists demonstrating outside the base in support of Azaria, protesters clashed with police and border guards dispatched to maintain order. Two people were arrested when protesters attempted to block Kaplan Street, a main avenue running outside the compound, and another two later.
Azaria was filmed shooting Sharif on March 24, 2016. The footage, which was published online shortly after the incident by the left-wing advocacy group B’Tselem, sparked an intense debate in Israel about military discipline and ethics in the midst of a wave of Palestinian terror attacks that began in September 2015.
Military prosecutors at first sought murder charges against Azaria, but the difficulty of proving the soldier’s intent led to a reduced indictment for manslaughter. According to prosecutors, Azaria’s actions explicitly contravened the IDF’s rules of engagement, which stipulate, in accordance with Israeli law, that deadly force cannot be used once the assailant no longer poses an immediate threat.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.