SOLDIER GIVEN 18 MONTHS FOR FATAL SHOOTING

TEL AVIV 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 three to five years in prison. Palestinians dismissed the sentence as a “joke.”

Sgt. Elor Azaria is to start serving his term on March 5. Politicians 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.

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.

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.

The man was lying on the ground unarmed when Azaria shot him in the head.