Israeli court upholds jail term for ex-soldier in Hebron shooting

An Israeli military appeal court upheld a manslaughter conviction and 18-month jail sentence on Sunday for a former army conscript who killed an incapacitated Palestinian assailant in the occupied West Bank.

In one of the most divisive trials in the Israel’s history, the panel of judges, including field generals, rejected challenges lodged by Elor Azaria, who says he had acted in line with defense doctrines.

“Values have been greatly damaged by the defendant’s actions,” the chief judge, Major-General Doron Feiles, said in reading out the ruling. “This was a forbidden and immoral act.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, however, said the ex-soldier should be pardoned.

In March 2015, Azaria was serving as an army medic in the town of Hebron in the occupied West Bank when two Palestinians stabbed and wounded another soldier. One of the assailants was shot dead by troops. The other was shot and wounded.

Read the whole story from Reuters.

Featured image courtesy of AP