Tivet 6, 5777
January 4, 2017
Today’s Blog:
“No Reasonable Doubt”? Kangaroo Court Convicts Azariya
It was a trial that should have never happened.
IDF soldier Elor Azariya justifiably shot and killed a wounded terrorist who had already stabbed another IDF soldier. Based on previous IDF briefings and warnings from personnel at the scene, Azariya believed that when he saw the terrorist’s hand move he was about to detonate an explosive device concealed under his coat.
However, within hours of the incident, Israel’s then Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon as well as IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot issued prejudicial statements declaring Azariya guilty. Of course, neither Ya’alon nor Eisenkot had been at the scene.
So began an excruciating nine month “trial” that has roiled the nation. We all knew that it was a trial whose verdict was decided by the Defense Ministry and the IDF General Command before it ever started.
Today, the court, in the person of Chief Judge Maya Heller, did not disappoint her military prosecutor or the higher-ups that pushed the trial (it should be remembered that back in November, in the middle of the trial, Heller was promoted to the IDF Appeals Court in a brazen display of unseemliness).
In the course of an absurd 150 minute defense of the court’s indefensible ruling, Heller said that there was “no reasonable doubt” that Azariya was guilty because:
*“there was no immediate danger from the terrorist lying on the ground” despite the fact that numerous people on the scene can be heard on video declaring that the terrorist might be about to detonate himself with a concealed explosive device hidden under his heavy coat.
*even if Azariya had believed that the terrorist was concealing a bomb, he would still be guilty. In making this declaration, the court then proceeded to change the IDF’s rules of engagement: “Henceforth, justifying opening fire with intent to kill based only upon suspicions of threats will be forbidden.”
Can you believe this?
Try to put yourself in the shoes of an IDF soldier. According to the court’s ruling, if you are in the middle of a battle, and you suspect that a terrorist who is running toward you is going to pull out a weapon, or detonate a suicide vest, you are forbidden from trying to kill the terrorist.
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In essence, the Court rejected the veracity of every defense witness including Israel’s leading forensic pathologist who testified that the terrorist would have died from his wounds even if Azariya had not shot him.
To say that the Israeli public is outraged by the Court’s decision is an understatement. Numerous protests are taking place at this hour.
Let’s take a moment and summarize the disastrous effects of the trial:
1. The court’s ruling immediately puts every IDF soldier in additional danger.
2. The court’s ruling has brought additional disgrace to an already disgraced IDF General Command and IDF Prosecutor’s Office.
3. Inasmuch as Azariya is a Sephardic Israeli and the prosecutorial team as well as the judges who decided the case are primarily Ashkenazi Israels, the entire episode has unfortunately reinforced the notion that Sephardic Israelis are discriminated against by Ashkenazi Israelis.
Perhaps the most disingenuous statement of the day came from Lt. Col. Nadav Weissman who said: “This is not a happy day for us. We would have preferred that this didn’t happen.”
What a joke.
Weissman refused every attempt to mediate the case, and did everything he could to demean Azariya. Today was an extraordinarily happy day for Weissman.
It was also an extraordinarily happy day for Palestinians with dancing in the streets of Ramallah and candy being given out in Jenin. The family of the terrorist immediately announced after the verdict that they will charge Elor Azariya with murder in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
In the end, the Azariya trial and verdict has shaken faith in the IDF and exacerbated tensions within Israeli society. It is a sad day in Israel.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.