Three former IDF generals to testify for Hebron soldier

Three senior officers are reportedly to testify in support of Sgt. Elor Azaria, an IDF soldier on trial for killing a disarmed, critically injured Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron in March.

Channel 2 named the three as Brigadier General (res.) Shmuel Zakai, Major General (res.) Dan Biton and Major General (res.) Uzi Dayan. The defense team has already informed the court that the three will take the stand when the trial resumes in the coming days, the report said.

Arazia was filmed on March 24 shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head, nearly 15 minutes after Sharif was shot and wounded by soldiers he had tried to stab. He has been charged with manslaughter.

An IDF soldier was moderately wounded in the stabbing attack, during the course of which a second Palestinian assailant was shot and killed.

Shumel Zakai was the commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division before he resigned from his post in 2004 over accusations that he had leaked reports to the Israeli media about differences in opinion between the IDF and political leaders. He was later forced to resign from the IDF.

Biton headed the IDF’s Technological and Logistics Directorate until 2012.

Uzi Dayan is a nephew of former minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Dayan. He served as head of the IDF’s Central Command, was deputy chief of staff, and later headed the Israeli National Security Council before launching a brief political career.

Zakai has previously expressed support for Azaria, writing on social media that “the reaction to the soldier who carried out the shooting in Hebron is disgraceful and hypocritical, and primarily lacking in professionalism. The hysterical reaction triggers sad thoughts regarding our ability to withstand pressure. There is no dispute over the fact that the soldier shot a terrorist who had already proven his intent to do harm.”

The killing made international headlines and the subsequent trial has inflamed political tensions in Israel, with far-right supporters and some politicians accusing the defense establishment of abandoning one of its own.