Elor Azaria had shot a Palestinian who had already been incapacitated by Israeli troops, in controversial case.
Revealed On 19 Sep 2026
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has expunged the felony file of a former soldier convicted of manslaughter for killing a wounded Palestinian in Hebron a decade in the past.
Herzog introduced on Saturday that he had shortened the remaining erasure interval on Elor Azaria’s file, successfully clearing it regardless of opposition from Israeli military Chief of Employees Lieutenant-Basic Eyal Zamir.
Really useful Tales
record of three objectsfinish of record
The army had opposed the transfer.
In a letter to the defence minister, Zamir and different senior officers mentioned Azaria “has kept away from expressing regret and taking duty for his actions, even a decade after his conviction”.
The president’s workplace mentioned it had taken the army’s place under consideration however determined the circumstances justified permitting Azaria to “open a brand new chapter in his life”.
Azaria, a military medic on the time, was filmed shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif within the head in March 2016.
Al-Sharif had stabbed and wounded a soldier however had already been shot by Israeli troops and had lain on the bottom for about 11 minutes earlier than Azaria killed him.
Azaria was convicted by a army court docket in 2017 and sentenced to 18 months in jail, later lowered to 14 months. He was launched in Could 2018 after serving 9 months.
Herzog’s workplace mentioned the choice adopted a request from Defence Minister Israel Katz in July and was primarily based on “the passage of time, the completion of his sentence, and the regret he has expressed”.
The assertion added that the pardon was issued “within the spirit” of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and didn’t problem the unique authorized proceedings.
Katz welcomed the pardon, writing on X that it “sends an essential message to [Israeli army] troopers and their households: We don’t abandon our fighters”.
Far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, referred to as the choice “deeply transferring” and urged Herzog to grant the same pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s on trial for corruption.
The 2016 capturing generated intense debate in Israel and drew worldwide condemnation on the time.
The Palestinian Ministry of Overseas Affairs had condemned the capturing as an “extrajudicial execution” and a “warfare crime”, saying the video footage “demolished all of the slogans chanted by the occupation leaders in regards to the ethics of the Israeli military”.
The household of al-Sharif had dismissed the authorized proceedings as a “farce” geared toward bettering Israel’s worldwide picture relatively than delivering justice.
The United Nations human rights workplace described the original sentence as “excessively lenient” and mentioned it risked “reinforcing the tradition of impunity”.
In 2024, the Joe Biden administration barred Azaria and his speedy household from getting into america, citing an “extrajudicial killing”.
