We are greatly disappointed that Sgt. Elor Azariya this week drew a sentence of a year-and-a-half jail time (with another six months suspended) for the 2016 shooting of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian terrorist on a mission to kill Israeli soldiers who, after stabbing an Israeli soldier, had already been shot by other soldiers and was lying next to his dead accomplice.
Sgt. Azariya was charged with violating IDF rules that prohibit killing already subdued prisoners who pose no further danger. Given the facts of the case as we understand them to be, Mr. Azariya should have had his entire sentence suspended. To be sure, having been convicted he had to be sentenced. But jail time seems wholly inappropriate.
It will be recalled that Sgt. Azariya was, at the time of the shooting, an inexperienced 19-year-old medic and the terrorist al-Sharif was wearing a long coat on a particularly hot day, strongly suggesting he may have been concealing explosives. In addition, a video of the incident shows some slight, jerking movement on his part.
No civilized person should shed a tear for the terrorist al-Sharif. He had purposefully set out to murder Israelis and doubtless knew there was a very real likelihood he would be forfeiting his life. But our concern goes beyond this.
There were two lines of evidence presented to the three-judge court at Sgt. Azariya’s trial, each one leading to differing conclusions as to guilt or innocence. Yet the court chose to seize on the incriminating rather than the exculpatory evidence. In our view, he should have been given the benefit of every doubt.
A presidential pardon is certainly called for.