Hebron Shooter Azaria to be Released to House Arrest

Elor Azaria, the IDF soldier sentenced to an 18-month prison sentence for shooting an incapacitated Palestinian terrorist, is to be released to house arrest, a military court ruled Monday.

Azaria will be allowed to leave his parents home in Ramle only to attend synagogue prayers and accompanied by his parents.

The hearing was held ahead of Azaria’s discharge from the IDF after completing his compulsory army service this coming Thursday. A military court is also due to hear Azaria’s appeal against his conviction on July 30.

On March 24, 2016, Azaria, a combat medic, was on patrol in Hebron when he shot in the head Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian assailant who earlier had stabbed an Israeli soldier.

Azaria claimed that he suspected al-Sharif was about to detonate an explosive device, but Military Police opened an investigation against him on a charge of murder, which was later reduced to manslaughter. A military court ruled that al-Sharif had died as a result of the wounds inflicted by Azaria and not his previous wounds.

Ahead of his appeal, Azaria’s attorney Yoram Sheftel has said he will ask to submit video from last Friday’s terror attack in Jerusalem in which Israeli-Arab terrorists shot and killed two police officers at the Temple Mount. Video footage of the incident shows one of the three terrorists lying on the ground as if incapacitated but then suddenly getting to his feet and attacking police before being shot dead.

“The terrorist pretended to be dead and when a police sapper went to examine him after he had already been ‘neutralized’, the deceased rose from the dead before being shot again, this time shot dead,” Sheftel said. “The video of the said incident proves that the appellant [Azaria] acted correctly and as required, when in the 11 seconds … he  had eye contact with the terrorist-murderer, and when the latter moved his head, he shot him to death fearing that he still presented a danger.”