Israeli politicians are calling for the soldier who shot dead a wounded Palestinian attacker to be pardoned, after he was sentenced by a military court on Tuesday to an 18-month jail term.
Elor Azaria was found guilty of manslaughter for shooting dead 21-year-old Abdul Fatah al-Sharif as he lay on the ground in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron last March.
Azaria had told a fellow soldier that Sharif, who had stabbed another soldier, “deserved to die”.
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His trial deeply divided Israel over the past year, raising questions about the army's moral code of conduct. Polls showed 70 per cent of Israelis supported a pardon, expressing sympathy for the soldier's actions, which occurred during a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israeli troops and civilians.
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Azaria, who was also demoted from the rank of sergeant to private, will begin serving his sentence on March 5th, although both the prosecution , which demanded a 3- to 5-year jail term, and the defence have the right to appeal.
Reading out the sentence, presiding judge, Col Maya Heller, said Azaria's crime was grave but was mitigated by the fact that it was his first conviction and had occurred in an active military scene.
“The defendant shot a terrorist without any justification. The only value that was harmed by the defendant’s actions was the value of life. Azaria also defiled the purity of arms which is upheld by the Israel Defence Forces, ” she said.
Immediately after the sentence was announced, right-wing and centrist politicians demanded a pardon for the convicted soldier.
‘Azaria factor’
Naftali Bennett, head of the right-wing Jewish Home, said the soldier must not go to jail. “The security of the citizens of Israel requires immediate clemency for Elor Azaria, who was sent to protect us. The process was tainted from its foundation. It is forbidden for Elor to sit in jail because we will all pay the price,” he said.
Since the incident, right-wing politicians have warned of "the Azaria factor", suggesting soldiers, fearing the legal consequences, will be reluctant to engage Palestinian militants. However, the army has denied there is such a phenomenon, noting that soldiers have opened fire on Palestinian attackers without hesitation in scores of incidents since the Hebron shooting.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said he favours a pardon for Azaria and called the soldier's father at the start of the trial to express his sympathy.
Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid, praised the court and the army for convicting Azaria, while at the same time urging a pardon. "Azaria is a soldier who made a grave mistake under difficult circumstances," Mr Lapid said. "I hope that Elor's commanders will consider a pardon that will let him and his family get back to their lives."
Yusri al-Sharif, the father of Azaria’s victim, called the sentence “a farce”, and the Palestinian government described the sentence as “too lenient”.
"The Palestinian government views this light ruling against the murderer soldier as a green light to the occupation army to continue its crimes," spokesman Tarek Rishmawi said.