An Israeli military court convicted of manslaughter Elor Azaria, an IDF medic serving in the Shimshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, on Wednesday, January 4, for his having shot an already incapacitated Palestinian man in the head in March of last year, killing him. Azaria, 20, was convicted after military Judge Col. Maya Heller said he had “needlessly” shot 21-year-old Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif leading to the latter’s death. Azaria now faces up to 20 years in prison for his actions.

The body of Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif in Hebron following his fatal shooting by Elor Azaria (Footage from B’Tselem video-film)

The court rejected arguments by the soldier’s defense team that Sharif had already died of wounds sustained earlier when he was shot by Azaria. Sharif had already been wounded and disarmed after allegedly carrying out an attack — during which a second Palestinian was also killed — in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron on March 24, 2016. Azaria later claimed that he had feared Sharif had “been carrying a bomb” at the time. The court, however, found that there had been no imminent threat to the soldier, meaning he violated the Israeli security forces’ so-called “rules of engagement” when he shot the already-injured Palestinian. The court dismissed most of Azaria’s argument, describing it as “evasive,” including claims he had suffered psychologically.

The shooting incident was captured on camera by a Palestinian activist working for B’Tselem – an Israeli human rights organization – leading to a split within the Israeli government after the military moved to prosecute Azaria despite vocal opposition from Israel’s far right, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Following Wednesday’s verdict, Joint List head MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) declared that the “criminal occupation [of the Palestinian territories] has produced the likes of Azaria,” and asserted that hundreds of similar incidents had not been captured on film.  Odeh added that the case revealed the moral corruption of the occupation.

A key part of the evidence in the case was the video of the shooting incident, recorded by the B’Tselem activist. “The difference between this case and hundreds of others is the presence of a B’Tselem camera that documented the cruel reality of the occupation and revealed the infectious pus that the occupation is creating in the heart of Israeli society,” said Odeh.

“While it is clear that a soldier is responsible for his own actions, those really responsible are the governments of Israel, which for 50 years have chosen to turn young men and women into soldiers whose job it is to maintain military rule over a civilian population devoid of rights,” Odeh added. “The prime minister has chosen to place himself among the ranks of [Azaria’s] supporters with their chants of ‘death to the Arabs,’ and in the process has shown that he himself is responsible for the moral corruption that these groups are leading in Israeli society.” In contrast, far right-wing education minister and head of the Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett has called for Azaria to be immediately pardoned — even if he was found guilty of manslaughter.

Following the verdict, Fathi al-Sharif, the uncle of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, told Haaretz: “The fact that the soldier was convicted of manslaughter isn’t such an important development from our standpoint. From the beginning, we stated that he had committed murder and needed to be convicted of murder. The fact that they changed the count of the indictment to manslaughter is a perversion of justice and of the court.”

Sharif added: “The question that remains is what sentence will be imposed on him, and we don’t have many expectations. It’s clear that he will receive a light sentence or be pardoned, because we understand and are following the pressures being brought to bear on the system and the sympathy that the soldier has been garnering in Israeli society.”

According to Israeli rights group Yesh Din, of the 186 criminal investigations opened by the Israeli army into suspected offenses against Palestinians in 2015, just four yielded indictments.

Related:

• B’Tselem video of incident in which incapacitated Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif is shot to death by Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria, March 24, 2016
  
• Palestinian Autopsy Observer: Fatal Shot Was That of Suspected Soldier
• Political Storm Gathers Strength after Video Shows Soldier Killing Wounded Palestinian in Hebron
• B’Tselem: Palestinian Killed beside al-Sharif in Hebron – also Executed