Israeli soldier jailed for killing wounded attacker
A YOUNG Israeli soldier convicted of killing a Palestinian assailant lying wounded on the ground was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment yesterday, far less than prosecutors requested, in one of the most divisive cases in Israel’s history.
The decision to court-martial Sergeant Elor Azaria, who shot the Palestinian after he had stabbed another soldier in the occupied West Bank in March last year, stirred controversy in Israel from the start, with opinion polls showing strong support for the army medic.
A military court last month found Azaria guilty of manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail.
With the 50th anniversary of Israel’s wartime capture of the West Bank approaching, the trial has generated debate about whether the military, long seen as a melting pot for Israelis, was out of touch with a public that has shifted to the right in its attitudes towards the Palestinians.
The prosecution asked that Azaria be sentenced to three to five years behind bars, noting that he had shot a Palestinian who only minutes earlier had carried out an attack.
Passing an 18-month sentence that media commentators described as lenient, the court said Azaria had not expressed regret for his crime but noted that his army record had been unblemished up until the shooting and that his arrest had caused his family deep distress.
Palestinians had called for a life term. But there was little sign the sentencing would lead to any significant outbreak of violence by Palestinians.
They have long accused Israel of using excessive force against lightly armed assailants and harboured few expectations soldiers would be held accountable.
It was not immediately clear if Azaria’s lawyers, who had said after the verdict last month that they intended to appeal against his conviction, would still proceed along that path.
Eleven months ago, Azaria, then 19, was serving in the town of Hebron when two Palestinians carried out the stabbing.
Hebron has been a longtime flashpoint of violence, and the incident occurred during a wave of Palestinian street attacks on Israelis.
One of the two assailants was shot dead by troops. The other was shot and wounded. Eleven minutes later, as the wounded man, Abd Elfatah Ashareef, 21, lay on the ground incapacitated, Azaria shot him in the head.
At the trial, Azaria said he believed the Palestinian, though motionless, still posed a danger because his knife was nearby, and that he might have been carrying explosives.
“He deserves to die,” Azaria was quoted in the verdict as telling another soldier after pulling the trigger.
At the sentencing, Chief Judge Maya Heller said Azaria “took upon himself to be both judge and executioner”.