Israel soldier Elor Azaria faces verdict over Hebron death

Meanwhile, Bennett’s Home party is fomenting pressure from the right to expand the settlements still further.

Israeli soldier Elor Azaria was convicted Wednesday of manslaughter for shooting a neutralized Palestinian attacker [JP Updates] The manslaughter conviction Wednesday of 19-year-old Israeli Sgt. Elor Azaria for the killing of a downed Palestinian attacker has received an nearly universally negative reaction, albeit for differing reasons.

“The fact that in 55 incidents no criminal investigation was considered necessary raises doubts about the implementation of Israel’s declared policy on investigating civilian fatalities”, the report concluded. Azaria, an Israeli army medic who had been deployed to the West Bank at the age of 19, shot and killed the Palestinian attacker who lay wounded and motionless on the ground.

Much will be said and written about the implications of the verdict.

The Palestinian foreign ministry called the proceedings a “show trial” which distracted from a wider culture of impunity for Israeli forces.

The case has divided Israeli opinion.

The military has said it began investigating before the video’s release. “After the shooting no one standing around there was bothered by what they had seen”.

In a statement, Amnesty International said the conviction was “a rare occurrence in a country with a long record of using excessive and unwarranted force”, and that it “offers a small glimmer of hope amid the rampant impunity for unlawful killings” in the Palestinian territories. The violence has claimed the lives of at least 240 Palestinians and 34 Israelis since September 2015. Of these investigations, 120 files were closed, seven led to disciplinary action, and only four (3.1 percent of all files in which procedures were concluded) led to indictments.

There are countless cases of impunity.

At the time of the fatal shooting in the head, which was captured on camera, the Palestinian assailant had already been immobilized and posed no danger to the public or the Israeli soldier, contrary to defense claims, which said that Sharif posed an immediate danger.

The soldier, who could face up to 20 years in jail, will be sentenced at a later date his defence team plans to file an appeal.

Video of Azaria’s deadly shooting, condemned by a United Nations expert as an “extrajudicial execution”, was posted online by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Both the political establishment and the army are undergoing internal changes.

During the trial, another soldier, named only as TM, testified that Azaria asked him, “How is it that my friend was stabbed and the terrorist is alive?” Many right-leaning politicians advocate the same.

Hasson blasted Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman as the first person to “sully’ this trial”. It is also morally repugnant, and likely to compromise Israel’s ability to effectively and resolutely deter the homicidal maniacs who repeatedly set out to stab, shoot, stone, torch, and bomb its soldiers and citizens. From here on out, the mask is off.

Palestinians participating in protests in the West Bank cited an Israeli commander, nicknamed “Captain Nidal”, as telling them he would “cripple half of you and let the other half push your wheelchairs”.

They danced and cheered, shouting, “Our soldier, the hero”.