TEL AVIV, Israel -- An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for his deadly shooting of a Palestinian attacker who lay wounded on the ground, capping a nearly yearlong saga that has deeply divided the country.

The sentence, which included a year’s probation and a demotion in rank, was lighter than expected. Prosecutors had asked for a prison term of three to five years. Palestinians dismissed the sentence as a “joke.”

Yet it still triggered disappointment from several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the Tel Aviv court and had hoped to see the soldier walk free. Sgt. Elor Azaria is to start serving his term on March 5, and politicians immediately called for him to be pardoned.

“Even if he erred, Elor should not sit in prison. We will all pay the price,” said Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home Party and an early supporter of the soldier.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, said the light sentencing only encouraged Israeli soldiers to use excessive force.

“This sentence is a joke, and it shows how much discrimination Israeli courts practice against Palestinians,” said Issa Karaka, the Palestinian government minister for prisoners.

Azaria was convicted of manslaughter last month in a rare case of a military court ruling against a combat soldier for lethal action taken in the field.

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The verdict marked a victory for commanders who said Azaria had violated the army’s code of ethics. But the soldier himself generated great support among the public, many of whom see him as a scapegoat for a misguided elite that has sought to harshly punish a soldier who they say responded to an armed attacker trying to kill other soldiers.

Azaria, an army medic, was caught on a cellphone video last March as he fatally shot the wounded Palestinian, just after the man stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was lying on the ground badly wounded and already unarmed when Azaria shot him in the head.

The dead Palestinian’s father, Yousri al-Sharif, said the light sentence made a mockery of justice. “If one of us killed an animal they would have put him in jail for God knows how long. They are only making fun of us,” he said.

Fathi al-Sharif, an uncle of the slain attacker, said the sentence was too light. “It’s not a punishment,” he said. “This will encourage other soldiers to do the same.”

The sister (L) of Palestinian Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, who was shot dead as he lay on the ground by Israeli soldier Elor Azaria in March 2016, takes part in a demonstration against the verdict of the trial, in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, on February 21, 2017. HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images

The shooting occurred at the height of what has become more than a yearlong wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have carried out numerous stabbing and shooting attacks that have killing 41 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During the same time, Israeli forces have killed 235 Palestinians, most of them attackers.

Palestinians and human rights groups have accused Israeli forces of using excessive force in some of the cases and even harming innocent people mistaken as attackers. But in the absence of concrete evidence, they have been unable to prove these claims. The video of the Azaria shooting, taken by a Palestinian human rights activist, was the strongest evidence to date to support the Palestinian claims.

“Sending Elor Azaria to prison for his crime sends an important message about reigning in excessive use of force,” said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch. “But senior Israeli officials should also repudiate the shoot-to-kill rhetoric that too many of them have promoted, even when there is no imminent threat of death. Pardoning Azaria or reducing his punishment would only encourage impunity for unlawfully taking the life of another person.”

Azaria’s defenders said he shot the assailant in self-defense, and hard-line politicians have said he should be either cleared or released with a light penalty.

“The prosecution was thirsty for Elor’s blood and the sentencing proves that,” Yoram Sheftel, one of the soldier’s lawyers, said outside the court.

But his detractors, including senior military commanders, have said his actions violated military procedures.

The uproar has put the army in a delicate position.

Military service is compulsory for Israel’s Jewish majority, and there is widespread sympathy for soldiers, since virtually every family has a member who is serving or has served in the past.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initially defended the military, later softened his position and called Azaria’s parents to console them. After the verdict last month, he called for Azaria to be pardoned.

The dispute helped fuel the resignation of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief who sided with the army.

His successor, Avigdor Lieberman, visited Azaria in court during the trial. But since taking up the defense post, Lieberman has lined up behind the army. On Tuesday, he asked the public to respect the sentencing and urged “all sides to do what is necessary to put an end to this affair.”

Netanyahu was on a trip to Singapore and Australia and did not immediately react to the sentencing.

Dozens of the soldier’s supporters outside the court chanted words of encouragement and waved banners reading: “Death to terrorists.”

The 20-year-old Azaria entered the court smiling and was greeted by applause from friends and relatives. He then had a long embrace with his mother and other family members.

Last month’s verdict was accompanied by angry outbursts in the courtroom and protesters outside who briefly blocked streets and scuffled with police.

But reactions were more muted Tuesday as Azaria’s father, Charlie, took a more calming approach, asking supporters ahead of the sentencing not to disrupt the proceedings.

“None of us have any expectations, we shall accept the sentence whatever it may be,” he said.

The family sang the national anthem at the end of sentencing.

Outside the courtroom there was anger, but no major disturbances.

“I’m a mother of soldiers, of fighters just like him. How can I send my kids to the army now?” said Sigalit Cohen, an Azaria supporter. “You are a soldier, you have a gun, you are a fighter, that’s your job. He only did his job.”

Col. Maya Heller, head of the three-judge panel, noted as mitigating factors in Azaria’s sentencing that the incident took place “in hostile territory” and it was Azaria’s first real operational experience.

“We took note of the harm suffered by his family,” she said.

However, she said Azaria had not expressed remorse for his actions and ruled that he did not open fire out of danger -- but rather to harm the assailant.</s>An Israeli military court overnight sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for his deadly shooting of a Palestinian attacker who lay wounded on the ground, capping a nearly yearlong saga that has deeply divided the country.

The sentence, which included a year's probation and a demotion in rank, was lighter than expected. Prosecutors had asked for a prison term of three to five years.

Yet it still triggered disappointment from several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the Tel Aviv court and had hoped to see the soldier walk free.

Sgt. Elor Azaria is to start serving his term on March 5, and politicians immediately called for him to be pardoned.

"Even if he erred, Elor should not sit in prison. We will all pay the price," said Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home Party and an early supporter of the soldier.

Azaria, an army medic, was caught on a cellphone video last March as he fatally shot the wounded Palestinian, just after the man stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was lying on the ground badly wounded and already unarmed when Azaria shot him in the head.

"This sentence is a joke, and it shows how much discrimination Israeli courts practice against Palestinians," said Issa Karaka, the Palestinian government minister for prisoners.

Azaria was convicted of manslaughter last month in a rare case of a military court ruling against a combat soldier for lethal action taken in the field.

The soldier himself generated great support among the public, many of whom see him as a scapegoat for a misguided elite that has sought to harshly punish a soldier who they say responded to an armed attacker trying to kill other soldiers.

The dead Palestinian's father, Yousri al-Sharif, said the light sentence made a mockery of justice. "If one of us killed an animal they would have put him in jail for God knows how long. They are only making fun of us," he said.

Fathi al-Sharif, an uncle of the slain attacker, said the sentence was too light. "It's not a punishment," he said. "This will encourage other soldiers to do the same."

The shooting occurred at the height of what has become more than a yearlong wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have carried out numerous stabbing and shooting attacks that have killing 41 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During the same time, Israeli forces have killed 235 Palestinians, most of them attackers.</s>Sgt. Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a wounded Palestinian knife attack suspect, was sentenced to 18 months in military prison Tuesday.

The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, 21, was one of two men accused of stabbing another Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron in March.

The judge announced Azaria will demoted to the rank of private and handed him a 12-month probation on top of his prison sentence.

Charges were brought against Azaria after video footage emerged showing him shooting Sharif in the head as he lay on the ground, injured and already subdued.

The second Palestinian suspect had already been shot dead.

The case against Azaria has divided opinion among the Israeli public, politicians and members of the military, and focused attention on the military’s code of ethics.

The incident took place while Azaria was serving in Hebron, a largely Palestinian city in the West Bank with a small population of Israeli settlers. The Israeli soldier who had been attacked suffered a minor injury.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, Azaria arrived at the scene approximately 11 minutes after the attack, cocked his rifle and shot Sharif in the head, killing him.

Azaria denied the charges against him, but a three-member panel of military judges was unanimous in finding him guilty of manslaughter and improper conduct.

At the heart of the case was the motivation for Azaria’s actions. The soldier’s defense argued he felt his life was in danger, while the prosecution contended he was motivated by vengeance.

That defense was rejected by the judges.

The head judge, Col. Maya Heller, stated that Azaria was an “unreliable” witness and that his defense witnesses were also problematic. She called the shooting “needless.”</s>Sgt. Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a wounded Palestinian assailant, was sentenced to 18 months in military prison Tuesday.

The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, 21, was one of two men accused of stabbing another Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron in March.

Charges were brought against Azaria after video footage emerged showing him shooting Sharif in the head as he lay on the ground, injured and already subdued. The second Palestinian suspect had already been shot dead.

The judge announced Azaria will be demoted to the rank of private, and handed him a 12-month probation on top of his prison sentence.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces explained that the time Azaria has spent in open detention will not count towards his 18-month sentence, which he will begin serving in 12 days time.

The spokesperson also confirmed that Azaria has the right to an appeal.

Abu Al-Abed Al-Sharif, the father of the Palestinian, said he did not expect the court to have treated the case so fairly.

“We didn’t expect an Israeli court to be fair with Palestinians, the only reason for this is having this crime recorded on a camera,” he told CNN.

Approximately 150 protesters gathered outside the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, where the military court is located, as the sentencing commenced.

A number of right-wing activists supporting Azaria were present with banners.

One protestor held up a banner saying “Death to Terrorists.” Another banner read: “The people of Israel support and salute the hero soldier Elor Azaria.”

Naftali Bennett, minister of education and head of the right-wing Jewish Home party, called for an immediate pardon.

“The security of the citizens of Israel requires immediate pardon for Elor Azaria who was sent to defend us,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

He added: “The process was polluted. It is forbidden for Elor to sit in prison, for all of us will pay the price.”

The case against Azaria has divided opinion among the Israeli public, politicians and members of the military, and focused attention on the military’s code of ethics.

The incident took place while Azaria was serving in Hebron, a largely Palestinian city in the West Bank with a small population of Israeli settlers. The Israeli soldier who had been attacked suffered a minor injury.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, Azaria arrived at the scene approximately 11 minutes after the attack, cocked his rifle and shot Sharif in the head, killing him.

Azaria denied the charges against him, but a three-member panel of military judges was unanimous in finding him guilty of manslaughter and improper conduct.

At the heart of the case was the motivation for Azaria’s actions. The soldier’s defense argued he felt his life was in danger, while the prosecution contended he was motivated by vengeance.

That defense was rejected by the judges.

The head judge, Col. Maya Heller, stated that Azaria was an “unreliable” witness and that his defense witnesses were also problematic. She called the shooting “needless.”

During sentencing, Col. Heller said the court took mitigating circumstances into account, acknowledging the incident took place “in hostile territory” while taking “note of the harm suffered by his family.”

But according to the Foreign Press Association, she also stated that Azaria had not expressed any remorse for his actions.

Imad Abu Shamsiyeh , the activist who filmed the incident, told CNN that the sentencing was “full of injustice.”

“It gives the legitimacy of killing more Palestinians with cold blood, only because they look suspicious,” he added.

The verdict was welcomed by Human Rights Watch.

“Sending Elor Azaria to prison for his crime sends an important message about reigning in excessive use of force,” said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch.

“But senior Israeli officials should also repudiate the shoot-to-kill rhetoric that too many of them have promoted, even when there is no imminent threat of death.

“Pardoning Azaria or reducing his punishment would only encourage impunity for unlawfully taking the life of another person.”</s>Israeli soldier is jailed for 18 months for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian

An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian assailant who lay on the ground, sparking criticism from rights groups.

Defence lawyers announced an appeal and right-wing Israeli ministers immediately called for a pardon, while the Palestinian government and the victim’s family condemned the sentence as too lenient.

Judge Maya Heller handed down the sentence a month after Elor Azaria, 21, was found guilty of manslaughter for killing Abdul Fatah al-Sharif in the southern occupied West Bank in March last year.

He also received 18 months in suspended sentences and was demoted from sergeant to private.

Heller said the panel of three judges had taken into account mitigating factors including the “harm suffered by his family” and the fact Azaria was in “hostile territory” when the shooting occurred.

She added, however, that he had not expressed remorse for his actions.

Azaria will begin his sentence on March 5, the court announced.

He has already spent more than 10 months confined to an Israeli military base but this is not included as time served, the court ruling said.

Azaria and his family didn’t react in court as the sentence was passed down.

The March 2016 shooting in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron was caught on video by a rights group and spread widely online.

It showed Sharif, 21, lying wounded on the ground, shot along with another Palestinian after stabbing and wounding a soldier, according to the army.

Azaria then shoots him in the head without any apparent provocation.

Azaria says he feared Sharif was wearing an explosive belt and could blow himself up, taking nearby soldiers and onlookers with him, a claim judges rejected.

The case, which came against the backdrop of a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that erupted in October 2015, has stirred controversy.

Some on the right have defended the soldier, a French-Israeli national, but military officials said the trial was important to maintain the institution’s reputation.

Azaria entered the packed courtroom to applause from friends.

Dressed in military uniform and smiling broadly, he hugged family members and his girlfriend.

Outside the court, around 100 right-wing demonstrators protested against the trial.

As the verdict was read out the family sat still but afterwards they sang the Israeli national anthem together.

Defence attorney Ilan Katz told reporters outside the courtroom they would appeal the manslaughter conviction as it was “more severe than the punishment he got”.

“Israel’s security demands he be pardoned,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

“Elor was sent to protect Israelis at the height of a wave of Palestinian terror attacks. He cannot go to jail or we will all pay the price.”

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on people to respect the ruling.

But he said: “You have, on the one hand, an exemplary soldier, and on the other, a terrorist who tried to kill Jews”.

There was no immediate reaction from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has previously said he too favours a pardon.

A source close to President Reuven Rivlin, who could hand down the pardon, said no such request had been made as yet.

The reaction from Palestinians and rights groups, however, was anger and disappointment.

A spokesman for the Palestinian government told AFP the sentence was a “green light to the occupation army to continue its crimes”.

Sharif’s father Yusri told journalists at the family home near Hebron in the southern West Bank the sentence was a “farce”.

“What does a year and a half mean? Was he an animal to be killed like this, in this barbaric way?”

Magdalena Mughrabi from Amnesty International said Azaria’s initial conviction had “offered a glimmer of hope for accountability for unlawful killings by Israeli forces”.

“(But) the 18-month sentence for Elor Azaria does not reflect the gravity of the offence.”

Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, called the conviction an “important message about reining in excessive use of force”.

She warned, however, that pardoning him would “encourage impunity”.

The trial opened last May at a military courtroom in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa district but later moved inside to a tightly guarded military complex.</s>An Israeli military court on sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for shooting dead a Palestinian attacker who lay wounded on the ground, capping a nearly year-long saga that has deeply divided the country.

Yesterday’s sentence, which included a year’s probation and a demotion in rank, was lighter than expected. Prosecutors had asked for a prison term of three to five years. Palestinians dismissed the sentence as a “joke”.

Yet it still triggered disappointment from several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the Tel Aviv court and had hoped to see the soldier walk free. Sgt Elor Azaria is to start serving his term on 5 March, and politicians immediately called for him to be pardoned. “Even if he erred, Elor should not sit in prison. We will all pay the price,” said education minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home Party and an early supporter of the soldier.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, said the light sentencing only encouraged Israeli soldiers to use excessive force.

“This sentence is a joke, and it shows how much discrimination Israeli courts practice against Palestinians,” said Issa Karaka, Palestinian government minister for prisoners.

Azaria was convicted of manslaughter last month in a rare case of a military court ruling against a soldier for lethal action taken in the field.

The verdict marked a victory for commanders who said Azaria had violated the army’s code of ethics. But the soldier himself generated great support among the public, many of whom see him as a scapegoat for a misguided elite that has sought to harshly punish a soldier who they say responded to an armed attacker trying to kill other soldiers.

Azaria, an army medic, was caught on a cellphone video last March as he fatally shot the wounded Palestinian, just after the man stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was lying on the ground badly wounded and already unarmed when Azaria shot him in the head.

The dead Palestinian’s father, Yousri al-Sharif, said the light sentence made a mockery of justice. “If one of us killed an animal they would have put him in jail for God knows how long. They are only making fun of us,” he said.

Fathi al-Sharif, an uncle of the slain attacker, said the sentence was too light. “It’s not a punishment,” he said. “This will encourage other soldiers to do the same.”

The shooting occurred at the height of what has become more than a yearlong wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have carried out numerous stabbing and shooting attacks that have killing 41 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During the same time, Israeli forces have killed 235 Palestinians, most of them attackers.

Palestinians and human rights groups have accused Israeli forces of using excessive force in some of the cases and even harming innocent people mistaken for attackers. But in the absence of concrete evidence, they have been unable to prove these claims. The video of the Azaria shooting, taken by a Palestinian human rights activist, was the strongest evidence to date to support the Palestinian claims.

“Sending Elor Azaria to prison for his crime sends an important message about reigning in excessive use of force,” said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “But senior Israeli officials should also repudiate the shoot-to-kill rhetoric that too many of them have promoted, even when there is no imminent threat of death. Pardoning Azaria or reducing his punishment would only encourage impunity for unlawfully taking the life of another person.”</s>An Israeli military court has announced an 18 month sentence against Hebron shooter, Elor Azaria, who was convicted of ‘manslaughter’, after he shot and killed a wounded Palestinian youth in Hebron, march of 2016.

Last month, Azaria was convicted of manslaughter, despite the fact that he shot in the head a helpless wounded man, Abdul-Fattah Al-Sharif, 20, who posed no threat on his life.

Al-Sharif’s cousin was also killed in the incident, under the pretext of a stabbing attempt.

Prosecutors have asked that Azaria be sentenced on Tuesday to 3-5 years in prison. His defense attorneys insisted he should be freed.

Many Israeli leaders and people have shown support for the soldier, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and prominent hard-line politicians have called for the soldier to be pardoned.

Dozens of Azaria’s supporters gathered outside the court ahead of the sentencing.

The family of the Palestinian martyr, Abdul-Fattah Al-Sharif, were photographed today waiting for the verdict to appear on TV.

The graphic shooting video, which was filmed by a Palestinian cameraman from B’Tselem rights group, went viral and sparked international rage.

The video shows Elor Azaria talking on the phone, then hangs up and steps closer to Al-Sharif, and shoots him in the head from a very close distance in presence of Israeli ambulances.</s>[ Ed. note – Abdul Fattah al-Sharif was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, on March 24, 2016. He was lying on the ground wounded at the time. His execution-style killing, which was captured on video, took place on the Jewish holiday of Purim. The video later went viral and made headlines around the world.

You can go here to watch the video of the shooting, and here to watch Israeli settlers celebrating Purim on the same Hebron streets later that same day. Al-Sharif and a companion, Ramzi Aziz Qasrawi, were both shot on March 24 following an alleged stabbing attack upon an Israeli soldier. I put up a number of posts last year on the incident, most notably Looks Like it Was a Purim Execution, which I published on March 25, and Ruled By the Insane, an article I wrote and published on April 19 and which deals with a protest held in Tel Aviv in support of the killer. Elor Azarya, the Israeli soldier who shot al-Sharif, was elevated to the status of national hero. Today Azarya was sentenced to 18 months by an Israeli military judicial panel.

The light sentencing underscores the fact that there are two standards of justice in Israel, one for Israeli Jews and another for Palestinians, which of course is the hallmark of apartheid. As the article below notes, Palestinian children will typically serve more time in jail simply for throwing rocks. ]

Israeli Who Executed Injured Palestinian Gets Slap on the Wrist

Elor Azarya, the Israeli army medic who shot dead injured Palestinian Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif last year in the occupied West Bank, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison, one year of probation and a demotion.

If not pardoned first, he may walk free after serving just a year in prison.

The light sentence was imposed even though judges found beyond any doubt that Azarya had acted in revenge.

“We are not surprised, from the onset we knew this was a show trial that will not do us justice,” al-Sharif’s family told media. “Even though the soldier was caught on video and it is clear that this is a cold-blooded execution, he was convicted only of manslaughter, not murder, and the prosecution asked for only a light sentence of three years.”

“The sentence he received is less than a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones,” the family added.

Azarya was indicted for manslaughter after he was caught on video shooting the head of the wounded and incapacitated al-Sharif lying in the street, killing him, on 24 March 2016.

Al-Sharif was shot dead along with Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, both 21 years old. Israel alleges that they stabbed a soldier near the Tel Rumeida settlement in Hebron.

The killing of al-Qasrawi was not caught on video.

Significant segments of Israeli society – egged on by right-wing politicians including education minister Naftali Bennett and defense minister Avigdor Lieberman – objected to any trial at all for Azarya and have celebrated him as a hero.

The trial court found “beyond all reasonable doubt” that Azarya had acted out of revenge rather than in self-defense.

But after obtaining a conviction, prosecutors asked for only three to five years imprisonment.

At the time of the verdict, Human Rights Watch said that senior Israeli officials have been “encouraging Israeli soldiers and police to kill Palestinians they suspect of attacking Israelis even when they are no longer a threat.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly announced after the January conviction that Azarya should be pardoned.

He is accurately reading public sentiment, with Israelis reportedly supporting clemency by more than three to one.

Netanyahu, who is under investigation for corruption, is also trying to keep up with Bennett, a rival for the post of prime minister, who has repeatedly insisted Azarya be pardoned.

The light sentence would appear to be another instance of the systematic impunity Israel affords its personnel who kill or injure Palestinians.

Last year, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem announced it would no longer refer complaints of violence against Palestinians to Israel’s military justice system.

“We will no longer aid a system that whitewashes investigations and serves as a fig leaf for the occupation,” Hagai El-Ad, the group’s director, explained.

Samir Zaqout of the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights told Al Jazeera he was not surprised by the outcome.

“Palestinians don’t expect any kind of justice from the Israeli legal system,” Zaqout said. “The lives of Palestinians are judged as worthless.”

Bill Fletcher, Jr., former president of TransAfrica Forum and a Palestine solidarity activist who was involved in the anti-apartheid movement, told The Electronic Intifada, “The sentencing of Elor Azarya reminds us that the value of Palestinian life is not the same as the value of Jewish citizens of Israel.”

“An 18-month sentence is nothing more than a slap on the hand,” Fletcher added. “It will do nothing to discourage further terrorist acts against Palestinians.”
• Palestinian Child With Epilepsy And Leukemia Sentenced To 90 Days In Israeli Prison
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• Film about Israeli imprisonment of Palestinians wins top award in Berlin</s>An Israeli military court has sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for his fatal shooting of a Palestinian attacker who lay wounded on the ground.

After an 11-month saga that has deeply divided the country, the sentence against Sergeant Elor Azaria, which included a year’s probation and a demotion in rank, was lighter than expected. Prosecutors had asked for three to five years.

It still triggered disappointment among protesters who had gathered outside the Tel Aviv court and had hoped to see the soldier walk free. Politicians immediately called for Azaria to be pardoned.

He was convicted of manslaughter last month in a rare case of a military court ruling against a combat soldier for lethal action taken in the field.

The verdict marked a victory for commanders who said Azaria had violated the army’s code of ethics, but Azaria generated great support among the public, many of whom see him as a scapegoat for a misguided elite punishing a soldier they say responded to an armed attacker trying to kill other soldiers.

Azaria, an army medic, was caught on a mobile phone video in March shooting the wounded Palestinian, just after the man stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was lying on the ground unarmed when Azaria shot him in the head.

The shooting occurred at the height of a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Azaria’s defenders said he shot the assailant in self-defence, and hardline politicians have said he should be either cleared or released with a light penalty, but his detractors, including senior military commanders, said his actions violated military procedures.</s>Israeli Soldier Who Killed A Wounded Palestinian Is Sentenced To 18 Months

More than a month after a military court found Sgt. Elor Azaria guilty of manslaughter, the soldier has been ordered to serve an 18-month prison sentence. Azaria, 21, who worked as an army medic, shot and killed Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian assailant who was already incapacitated.

The soldier's defense team has said it plans to appeal any sentence that includes jail time. Since last month's verdict, many on Israel's right wing have called for Azaria to be pardoned — something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he supports. A potential pardon would have to come from Israel's president.

Video of the shooting, which took place in the occupied West Bank last March, sparked strong and disparate reactions in Israel and beyond, fueling debate over the proper use of force and rules of engagement.

Here's how NPR's Joanna Kakissis described the videotaped events in her report from Jerusalem last month:

"Al-Sharif had been shot and wounded after stabbing an Israeli soldier. Eleven minutes later, Azaria shot the motionless Al-Sharif in the head. "A human rights activist filmed the killing. The video went viral. "Many Israelis say Azaria was justified because he feared Al-Sharif might have been wearing an explosive belt. But Azaria's superior officers say his actions contradict the army's ethical standards."

The crime of manslaughter could have exposed Azaria to a 20-year prison term; prosecutors had sought a sentence of 3-5 years. In addition to the prison sentence, the military court demoted Azaria to the rank of private.
Following last month's manslaughter conviction, Israeli soldier Elor Azaria is sentenced to 18 months in prison by a military court for, during a violent incident, his deadly shooting of the wounded, unarmed, prone Palestinian Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, who had stabbed a soldier last March in Hebron.