In March last year, when an Israeli soldier shot a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground, injured and already subdued, it was an obvious case of an extrajudicial execution. On Wednesday, 10 months later, an Israeli military court convicted the soldier of manslaughter for the shooting. So, Sgt. Elor Azaria was guilty then and is guilty now. And yet, the case against Azaria has divided opinion among the Israeli public, politicians and members of the military. Why the murder is so controversial even though it is an open and shut case is illustrative of a society in which members of the Israeli army are above the law and shielded from facing any sort of discipline, no matter how violent they become against Palestinians. To recap, Abdel Fattah Al-Sharif, 21, was one of two Palestinians accused of stabbing another Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron in March. One Palestinian suspect was shot dead and Al-Sharif was wounded while the Israeli soldier who had been attacked suffered a minor injury. As for Azaria, he arrived at the scene about 11 minutes after the attack, cocked his rifle and shot Al-Sharif in the head, killing him instantly. Footage of the scene several minutes just before Al-Sharif was killed, filmed by a Palestinian and released by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, shows Al-Sharif alive, wounded, lying prone on the ground and unarmed. At the heart of the case was the motivation for Azaria's actions. His defense argued he felt his life was in danger, and he told the court that he believed there might be a suicide belt under the Palestinian's jacket. But Al-Sharif's hands were clearly visible. A suicide belt does not explode by remote control; hands are needed to pull the string. Al-Sharif's hands were not only clearly seen but far enough from the body so that he could not possibly have enough time to detonate a bomb. Azaria violated the rules of engagement when without justification he shot Al-Sharif, who was wounded and represented no immediate threat, in cold blood. The judges noted that Azaria's commanders had testified that he did not mention the same concerns when they questioned him immediately after the shooting. They also cited another soldier, who told military investigators that Azaria had told him: "They stabbed my friend and tried to kill him - he deserves to die." So Azaria's conflicting statements show he was motivated by malice and vengeance. Al-Sharif's murder raises serious questions about how many more instances there are in which Israeli forces have fatally shot Palestinians during attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis. Suppose Al-Sharif's murder had not been videotaped. How many such attacks have been committed without a camera lens bearing witness to these unlawful killings? Israel is a country with a long record of using excessive force in the Palestinian territories. That Azaria was charged with manslaughter, over which he could get a maximum 20-year term, rather than the more serious charge of murder, is evidence that the long arm of the law does not reach rogue Israeli soldiers. When he saw where the current was going, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initially supported the military in the March incident, now has called for Azaria's pardon. President Reuven Rivlin has the authority to pardon but says he can only deal with the issue once the judicial process has run its course. Azaria should not be pardoned for that would signal to Israel's armed forces that they can get away with murder.
