Los Angeles Times · Los Angeles, CA · 22 February 2017

CP-2017-026

Israeli soldier gets 18-month term

Elor Azaria killed a wounded Palestinian who had attacked other troops.

BY JOSHUA MITNICK

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Transcribed from the clipping

TEL AVIV — Elor Azaria cracked a smile and his family broke out in song Tuesday moments after a military tribunal sentenced the Israeli soldier to 18 months in jail for killing a wounded Palestinian knife assailant in March in a case that has gripped national attention for nearly a year.

The decision came a month and a half after the military court unanimously convicted Azaria of manslaughter, ruling that he had violated the military's open-fire regulations when he shot the attacker, Abdel Fattah Sharif, in the head as Sharif lay wounded on the ground and no longer posed a threat.

The politically charged case roiled Israel's government, drove a rare wedge between Israeli public opinion — which is broadly sympathetic to Azaria — and the Israel Defense Forces top brass, and spurred international criticism of Israel. [...] Relatives of Sharif denounced the sentence as too short. "My family rejects this. This verdict is wrong," said Fathi Sharif, an uncle.

"The judge made a mistake when he gave the soldier only a year and a half in prison. Other people who do the same thing get 20 years in jail." The sentence was substantially shorter than the prison term of three to five years requested by the military prosecution. The court also demoted Azaria, a sergeant at the time of the shooting, to the rank of private.

On Tuesday, the judges wrote that they took into consideration that the incident occurred in "hostile" territory — in the West Bank city of Hebron — in deciding on a minimal jail term. A manslaughter conviction carries a maximum 20 years in prison. [...] Former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen.

Gadi Eisenkot said that Azaria had violated the military's values. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Azaria's family as a show of support.

How this transcription was made

Date and publication rest on the collector's slide label; no masthead, folio or printed dateline appears on this clipping.

Context added by this archive

Photo caption: "IN TEL AVIV, Elor Azaria is embraced by his mother, Oshra, at the start of his sentencing hearing. His case has gripped the nation." Credit: JIM HOLLANDER Pool Photo. Story ends "Mitnick is a special correspondent." Eisenkot appears only as one of two names in a single sentence recording official disapproval of Azaria; no Eisenkot words are quoted.

Maria's label gives this paper as "Los Angeles Times" where slide 3 gives "The Los Angeles Times" — the two spellings would ingest as two papers; flagging for her to settle, not changing either.

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