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Israeli Soldier Who Shot Wounded Palestinian Assailant Is Convicted of Manslaughter Israeli Soldier Who Shot Wounded Palestinian Assailant Is Convicted
(about 3 hours later)
JERUSALEM — A military court convicted an Israeli soldier of manslaughter on Wednesday for shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay wounded on the ground, a case that has polarized Israelis and rocked the pedestal on which the military normally stands. JERUSALEM — The fate of just one low-ranking Israeli soldier was hanging in the balance. But for many Israelis, the guilty verdict announced on Wednesday was a critical turn in the battle for the character of the state.
Hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a growing number of voices in Israel calling for the soldier to be pardoned, a move that would satisfy many Israelis but enrage Palestinians. When the military judges convicted Sgt. Elor Azaria of manslaughter for shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay wounded on the ground, they were ruling not just on his conduct but on a host of ethical and political issues it raised. Since the shooting in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in March, the case has polarized Israelis and rocked the pedestal on which the military normally stands.
With the 50th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank approaching, the highly charged trial fueled a debate about military ethics and the place of the army in Israeli society. It became as much about the military’s value system as about the conduct of the soldier, Sgt. Elor Azaria. With the 50th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank approaching, the highly charged trial had fueled a debate about military ethics and the place of the army in Israeli society. The verdict did little to heal the rifts the trial had exposed: Hours after it was rendered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a chorus of voices calling for the soldier to be pardoned.
The military’s rules make clear that assailants must be quickly incapacitated, but that once neutralized, they should not be killed. Even so, critics and rights groups have accused Israeli soldiers and police officers of being quick to pull the trigger, particularly in response to a recent spate of deadly stabbings, shootings and car attacks by Palestinians. “This is a difficult and painful day for us all,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a Facebook post supporting a pardon, which can be granted by Israel’s president or the army’s top officials. Referring to the Israel Defense Forces, he added, “The soldiers of the I.D.F. are our sons and daughters, and they need to remain above any dispute.”
Many in Israel, a country where military service is a part of national identity, called for backing up young soldiers sent on dangerous missions. They said that Sergeant Azaria had been in an impossible situation and that the deck had been stacked against him, since an acquittal would have put his commanders in a bad light. Prof. David Enoch, an expert in the philosophy of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said he thought the manslaughter conviction was “justified” but added, “I’m not sure this verdict will be welcomed by many of the soldiers and much of the public.”
“This is a difficult and painful day for us all,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a Facebook post. “The soldiers of the I.D.F. are our sons and daughters, and they need to remain above any dispute.” The military’s rules make clear that assailants must be quickly incapacitated, but that once the threat is neutralized, they should not be killed. Rights groups and other critics have accused Israeli soldiers and police officers of being too quick to pull the trigger, particularly in response to a recent spate of deadly stabbings, shootings and car attacks by Palestinians.
Political rivals to the right of Mr. Netanyahu, like the education minister, Naftali Bennett, have also called for a pardon. So have some on the left: Shelly Yacimovich of the Labor Party said on Wednesday that a pardon should be considered because “Azaria’s shoulders are too narrow to bear the entire weight of the fissure” the case has exposed in Israeli society. The Hebron killing, caught in chilling completeness in a video that quickly went viral worldwide, for many critics crystallized the question of excessive force, and even military leaders said Sergeant Azaria acted without justification. But in Israel, a country where military service is a part of national identity, many Jews called for backing up young soldiers sent on dangerous missions and said that Sergeant Azaria had been in an impossible situation and had little chance of an acquittal, since that would have put his commanders in a bad light.
Sergeant Azaria could be pardoned by top commanders in the army or by the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin. Mr. Rivlin’s office said on Wednesday that he would not consider the matter until sentencing and any appeals in the case had run their course. Commentators said it was unlikely that the army would support granting a military pardon. Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, called Wednesday’s decision “a tough verdict.”
Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, expressed reservations about the case. “The first thing I ask of all of us — those who like the verdict and those like me who like it much less — we are all obligated to respect the court’s decision,” Mr. Lieberman said. “We are obligated to maintain restraint.”
“This is a tough verdict,” he said, “and the first thing I ask of all of us — those who like the verdict and those like me who like it less — we are all obligated to respect the court’s decision. We are obligated to maintain restraint.” Mr. Lieberman, as a member of the parliamentary opposition before his cabinet appointment, had attended the military court to support Sergeant Azaria and called the legal proceedings a “theater of the absurd.” But on Wednesday, he said, “We must keep the army above and beyond all political argument.”
Before his appointment as defense minister in May, Mr. Lieberman, then a member of the opposition in Parliament, attended the military court to support Sergeant Azaria and called the legal proceedings a “theater of the absurd.” Politicians to Mr. Netanyahu’s right and left have also called for a pardon, including the education minister, Naftali Bennett, and Shelly Yacimovich of the Labor Party, who said that “Azaria’s shoulders are too narrow to bear the entire weight of the fissure” the case has exposed.
But after the verdict on Wednesday, he said, “We must keep the army above and beyond all political argument.” Some Israeli experts compared the Azaria verdict to the Kafr Qassem ruling of more than 60 years ago, after border police officers fatally shot 49 Arab men, women and children as they returned from work in the fields, unwittingly breaking a curfew. The murder convictions of officers in that case established that security forces must refuse to follow a “patently illegal order” that carries a “black flag” of criminality.
Lt. Col. Nadav Weissman, a military prosecutor, said: “This is not a happy day for us. We would have preferred that this didn’t happen. But the deed was done, and the offense was severe.” It helped shape the army’s ethos. Now, some fear that in the lower ranks, it has begun to erode.
Ilan Katz, one of the lawyers representing Sergeant Azaria, said, “I have no doubt that in light of decisions that seemed to us not in line with the evidence presented, we will appeal.” In a measure of the tensions, the verdict was handed down in a special court inside the walled and heavily guarded compound of the military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, rather than the courtroom where the trial was held, to keep demonstrators at bay.
In a measure of the tensions surrounding the trial, which was mostly held in a small military court in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, the verdict was handed down in a special court inside the walled and heavily guarded compound of the military’s headquarters in the center of Tel Aviv to keep demonstrators at bay. Video footage showed Sergeant Azaria smiling as he entered the courtroom to applause, and he was embraced by his family and friends. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound, shouting slogans like “free the boy.”
Video footage showed Sergeant Azaria smiling as he entered the courtroom to applause, and he was embraced by his family and friends. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the compound, shouting slogans like “free the boy,” and they could be heard inside the courtroom. Col. Maya Heller, one of the military judges, spent more than two and a half hours delivering the verdict. She systematically rejected the main points of the defense and said there had been “no justification” for the shooting, according to reports from the courtroom.
During a reading of the verdict that went on for more than two and a half hours, the military judge, Col. Maya Heller, systematically and resoundingly rejected all of the main points of the soldier’s defense and said that there had been “no justification” for the shooting, according to reports from inside the courtroom. Sentencing was set for Jan. 15. Describing Sergeant Azaria’s telling of the event as “twisting” and “evolving,” the judge said the defense had tried to “hold the rope at both ends” by on one hand asserting that the victim, Abed al-Fatah al-Sharif, appeared to pose a danger because he was still moving, and on the other bringing medical witnesses who contended that he was dead by the time Sergeant Azaria shot him in the head.
Describing Sergeant Azaria’s telling of the event as “twisting” and “evolving,” the judge said the defense had tried to “hold the rope at both ends” by asserting on the one hand that the victim, Abed al-Fatah al-Sharif, appeared to pose a danger because he was still moving, and on the other, bringing medical witnesses who asserted that he was already dead by the time Sergeant Azaria shot him in the head. The judge seemed to give great weight to statements Sergeant Azaria, a medic who was 19 at the time, made at the scene, indicating he had acted not out of fear but for revenge.
The judge seemed to give great weight to statements Sergeant Azaria made at the scene, indicating he had acted not out of fear but for revenge.
A soldier testified that before the shooting, Sergeant Azaria had said, “How is it that my friend was stabbed and the terrorist is still alive?” After the shooting, a commander who was at the scene recalled Sergeant Azaria saying, “The terrorist deserved to die.”A soldier testified that before the shooting, Sergeant Azaria had said, “How is it that my friend was stabbed and the terrorist is still alive?” After the shooting, a commander who was at the scene recalled Sergeant Azaria saying, “The terrorist deserved to die.”
The military’s high command immediately denounced the shooting in the West Bank city of Hebron in March, which was caught on video, calling it a grave breach of proper military conduct. But Israeli society was divided, and many hailed the soldier as a hero. A conscript serving as an army medic, Sergeant Azaria was 19 at the time. Ilan Katz, one of Sergeant Azaria’s lawyers, vowed to appeal.
Some right-wing politicians and celebrities asserted that the soldier’s fate had been prejudged in the hours after the event. Against the background of continued Palestinian attacks against Israelis, the soldier’s family and supporters mobilized widespread sympathy for his cause. The military’s high command had denounced the shooting immediately after it happened, calling it a grave breach of proper military conduct. But Israeli society was divided; against the backdrop of continued Palestinian attacks, many right-wing politicians and celebrities, along with Jewish parents of soldiers, hailed Sergeant Azaria as a hero.
While the defense minister at the time, Moshe Yaalon, strongly backed the military high command, Mr. Netanyahu wavered, first condemning Sergeant Azaria’s actions and then phoning the soldier’s family to offer reassurances that he would be treated fairly. “As the father of a soldier, I understand your distress,” he told them. Mr. Netanyahu first condemned Sergeant Azaria’s actions, then phoned the soldier’s family to offer sympathy and reassurances that he would be treated fairly.
Local television stations frequently showed images of Sergeant Azaria’s distraught parents hugging him in court. Appealing to public sentiment in a country blighted by wars and terrorism, and where most Jewish 18-year-olds are conscripted for up to 32 months of military service, his supporters portrayed him as “everybody’s child.”Local television stations frequently showed images of Sergeant Azaria’s distraught parents hugging him in court. Appealing to public sentiment in a country blighted by wars and terrorism, and where most Jewish 18-year-olds are conscripted for up to 32 months of military service, his supporters portrayed him as “everybody’s child.”
In remarks recorded before the verdict, the military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, tried to puncture that narrative. “An 18-year-old in the Israeli Army is not ‘everybody’s child,’” he said. “He is a fighter, a soldier who must dedicate his life to carry out the tasks we give him. We cannot be confused about this.”In remarks recorded before the verdict, the military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, tried to puncture that narrative. “An 18-year-old in the Israeli Army is not ‘everybody’s child,’” he said. “He is a fighter, a soldier who must dedicate his life to carry out the tasks we give him. We cannot be confused about this.”
The episode began when two Palestinian men stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in Hebron. Israeli soldiers shot the Palestinians, killing one and wounding the other, Mr. Sharif, 21. The episode began when two Palestinian men stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in Hebron. Israeli soldiers killed one and wounded the other, Mr. Sharif, 21.
Sergeant Azaria arrived at the scene about six minutes later, by which time calm appeared to have been restored. Eleven minutes after the initial stabbing and shootings, the video showed, he cocked his rifle and shot Mr. Sharif as he lay on the road. Blood poured from Mr. Sharif’s head. Sergeant Azaria arrived at the scene about six minutes later. The video showed calm had been restored. Yet 11 minutes after the initial attack, he cocked his rifle and shot Mr. Sharif as he lay on the road.
Lawyers representing Sergeant Azaria said he had acted to save his comrades, in the belief that Mr. Sharif, who was still moving, posed a threat and might have been concealing an explosive belt under his jacket. Lawyers representing Sergeant Azaria said he had acted to save his comrades, in the belief that Mr. Sharif, who was still moving, might have been concealing an explosive belt under his jacket.
But Sergeant Azaria did not warn the other soldiers or the medical staff nearby to move away from Mr. Sharif before shooting. Had Mr. Sharif been carrying explosives, critics said, the bullet could have detonated them. But Sergeant Azaria did not warn the other soldiers or the medical staff nearby to move away.
During the trial, Sergeant Azaria’s company commander, Maj. Tom Naaman, said he “did not feel any danger” from Mr. Sharif. During the trial, Sergeant Azaria’s company commander, Maj. Tom Naaman, said he “did not feel any danger” from Mr. Sharif, undercutting the defendant’s claims.
“No one brought to my attention that the terrorist endangered anything,” he said, undercutting the defendant’s claims. Yusri al-Sharif, Mr. Sharif’s father, told reporters that the verdict was “a good step” but that he hoped there would be no lenience in the sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 15.
Miri Regev, the Israeli culture minister, who is from Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party, said she would call for Sergeant Azaria to be pardoned. Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, said on Twitter that dozens of soldiers and commanders who killed Palestinians should have been convicted. “Fifty years of occupation add up to much more than one Azaria,” Mr. Tibi wrote.
“A soldier has been abandoned,” she said in remarks to an Israeli television reporter. “The chief of staff has disappointed many.”
Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, said in on Twitter that dozens of soldiers and commanders who killed Palestinians should have been convicted. “Fifty years of occupation add up to much more than one Azaria,” Mr. Tibi wrote.