West Bank20 September, 20263 min read
Isaac Herzog Pardons Elor Azaria After He Kills Wounded Palestinian Abdel Fattah al-Sharif
Isaac Herzog pardoned Elor Azaria and erased his criminal record. Azaria killed a wounded Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, in Hebron in 2016.
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Herzog pardons Azaria
Israeli President Isaac Herzog pardoned former soldier Elor Azaria after Azaria shot and killed a wounded Palestinian attacker, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, in Hebron in 2016. The incident began after two Palestinian suspects stabbed an Israeli soldier in Hebron, with Ramzi al-Qasrawi killed by Israeli gunfire and Abdel Fattah al-Sharif shot several times and left incapacitated on the pavement. Elor Azaria, who arrived on the scene as a medic, pointed his gun at al-Sharif, who still lay unconscious, and shot him in the head from point-blank range.
Herzog’s pardon came with a decision to “erase the remaining criminal record” so Azaria could “continue on with his life,” and the President’s statement cited “the passage of time” and the “sorrow” Azaria had supposedly expressed. The military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir opposed the move, saying Azaria had “refrained from expressing remorse and taking responsibility for his actions, even a decade after his conviction.”
Opposition and support
Ya’alon attacked Herzog’s decision, saying “The soldier did not claim to have shot the terrorist because he felt his life was in danger, but ‘because he deserved to die,’” and he added, “You decided to erase the criminal record without hearing from the soldier he takes responsibility or regrets his actions.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir welcomed the pardon, writing on X that “For someone like me who demonstrated a decade ago for Ilor Azaria, erasing the criminal record of someone who killed a terrorist affects me and makes me very happy.”
Herzog’s office said the pardon was justified by “the circumstances, the time served, and the regret he expressed,” and it framed the decision as allowing Azaria to “open a new chapter in his life.”
CNN described the decision as overruling military opposition, noting that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had said “the request should not be granted” in a July letter.
Middle East Eye reported that Azaria thanked God, his family, Herzog and Defence Minister Israel Katz, telling Channel 14 News it was “a blessed week.”
A divisive precedent
Defense Minister Israel Katz celebrated the pardon as a “humane and appropriate decision,” and he said “the time has come to allow him to leave the past behind, rebuild his life, and build his future.” Haaretz’s Yossi Verter described the timing of the presidential announcement, saying the President’s Residence announced the pardon “minutes before 8 P.M.” on Saturday night. Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem Daily segment placed the pardon alongside Yom Kippur observances, noting that “100,000 Jewish Israelis pray at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur.”
Mondoweiss argued that the erasure of Azaria’s criminal record would make him eligible to return to the army, and it quoted Ben-Gvir calling the pardon “very moving and gratifying” while urging the Chief of Staff to allow Azaria to “return to the military if he wishes.” Reddenoticias.online said the presidential pardon “reopened old institutional wounds and deep fractures in local and international public opinion,” while it also claimed the presidency clarified that removing the criminal record “does not constitute a substantive reevaluation of the judicial ruling.”