Two Israelis arrested for calling for attacks on Azaria judges
Police see wave of online incitement against 3 members of military court after manslaughter conviction for soldier who killed incapacitated Palestinian assailant
A protester against the verdict in the Azaria trial holds up a sign outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on January 4, 2017, that calls IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot a 'dog' (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Police arrested two people Thursday morning on suspicion of calling for attacks against the three judges who convicted Sgt. Elor Azaria of manslaughter the day before.
Passions are running high after the judges, who sit on the Jaffa Military Court, ruled that Azaria’s deadly shooting of Palestinian stabber Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron in March amounted to manslaughter.
Azaria faces a sentencing hearing next week.
The three military judges, Col. Maya Heller, Lt. Col. Carmel Wahabi and Lt. Col. Yaron Sitbon, have been given special protection details by the IDF.
Police say they have seen a wave of incitement online against the judges.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier who shot a Palestinian terrorist in Hebron, in court room before the announcement of his verdict, January 4, 2017 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
A 54-year-old Jerusalem resident was arrested after posting a call for violence against the three judges on Facebook.
A 22-year-old woman from Kiryat Gat was arrested for a similar post in which she called on readers to attack the judges, including urging grenade attacks against the court’s chief judge, Heller.
The woman also shared other posters’ calls for violence, including calls for the judges to kill themselves. She wrote that “God will punish” Heller.
Advertisement
She was released to house arrest on condition that she refrain from contacting Heller. She also agreed not to post on Facebook for 30 days.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
