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. 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. The crime of manslaughter could have exposed Azaria to a 20-year prison term; prosecutors had sought a sentence of 3-5 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. 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. 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. 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. “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. 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. 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. “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.
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.