Israeli PM backs pardoning soldier convicted of killing Palestinian assailant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he supports pardoning Elor Azaria, the soldier convicted earlier of the manslaughter of an incapacitated Palestinian assailant in the West Bank.

"This is a difficult and painful day for all of us -- and first and foremost for Elor and his family, for many Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, and for the parents of our soldiers, and me among them," Netanyahu wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

"I support pardoning Elor Azaria," he wrote.

"IDF soldiers are our sons and daughters and they must be above disagreements," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, a military court in Tel Aviv found Sgt. Azaria guilty of forbidden shooting and unlawful killing of Abdel al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif, 21, on March 24.

Azaria was a 19-year-old military medic in the city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank when al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasarwi carried out a knife attack, lightly wounding a soldier.

Troops shot dead al-Qasarwi and gravely wounded al-Sharif. Al-Sharif was lying on the ground, motionless, when Azaria arrived at the scene and shot a single bullet to his head.

The case deeply divided the Israeli society. While senior military officers condemned the act as a serious breach of military orders, many Israelis hailed Azaria as a "hero."

On Wednesday, before the judges finished to read the verdict, right-wing ministers and lawmakers started calling for an amnesty to Azaria.

Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said that she will lead a move to pardon Azaria while far-right Naftali Bennett, leader of the pro-settler faction of the Jewish Home, came out in a strong support for the soldier.

Bennett said he first addressed Netanyahu with a request for clemency for Azaria three months before the trial was over.

Under Israeli military law, the maximum punishment for manslaughter is 20 years in jail. Even if the chief of staff or the Israeli president will decline a pardon request, Azaria's sentence can be substantially reduced by his commanding general.

The incident occurred during a tensed time between Israelis and Palestinians, amidst a spate of violence in the West Bank and Israel. The violence has claimed the lives of at least 240 Palestinians and 34 Israelis since September 2015.

The court's ruling was a rare case of conviction of a soldier for a killing of a Palestinian person.

According to figures released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, since October 2015, there have been at least 150 instances in which Israeli security forces have fatally shot Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks. Endit