63% of Israelis believe soldier Azaria should be pardoned

According to a poll released by Israel today newspaper, 63% of Jewish Israelis believe that soldier Elor Azaria, who shot dead an injured Palestinian last year in Hebron, should be released.

The report, published this morning,  shows that 63% of Jewish Israelis are in favor of a pardon, while 24% are against leniency. 13% of respondents said that they “don’t know.”

On Wednesday, Elor Azaria was sentenced to 18 months in prison, almost a year after he shot dead a Palestinian youth in the head, while he was wounded and laying on the ground motionless.

The soldier received much controversial support from the Israeli people, and huge criticism both by Palestinians and the international community, who confirm that the shooting was an extrajudicial execution against an incapacitated person in daylight.

In addition, the family of the Palestinian victim, Abdul-Fattah Al-Sharif, who was killed, says that the soldier’s court was only a sarcastic play, and was held only because the soldier was documented on video, not because of the justice system, who gradually accused him of manslaughter (unintentional murder).

The prosecutors demanded 3-5 years of prison for the soldier, while his attorney, and other Israeli leaders, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister, Bennett, demanded his immediate release.

Source :PNN