The Israeli soldier who killed a wounded terrorist in Hebron has been found guilty by a military tribunal.
IDF soldier Sergeant Elor Azaria has been found guilty of manslaughter by a three person military tribunal in Tel Aviv. The three military judges - Colonel Maya Heller, Lt. Col Yaron Sitbon and Lt. Col. Carmel Wahabi - were unanimous in their verdict. They ruled that Azaria, who on March 24 2016 in Hebron shot terrorist Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head and killed him, 15 minutes after the Palestinian assailant had been shot and wounded after attempting to stab an IDF soldier, was guilty of unlawful killing.
The judges said that they had not been convinced by Azaria's claim that he should be acquitted because he felt Fattah al-Sharif posed a threat to his life and therefore killed him in self-defense. They also rejected Azaria's claim that the terrorist was dead before he shot him. Col. Heller said, "The defendant is trying to hold the rope at both ends in his claims of defense."
Heller said that at the heart of the case was Azaria's comment that, "The terrorist deserved to die."
There were violent scenes in the streets outside of the court building at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv's Kaplan Street where Azaria's supporters clashed with police.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 4, 2017
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Elor Azaria (center) Photo: ASAP creative