Israeli Court Convicts Soldier for Killing Downed Terrorist

JERUSALEM, Israel -- An Israeli military court in Tel Aviv found Israeli soldier Elor Azaria guilty of manslaughter Wednesday for killing a Palestinian terrorist, in a case that divided Israelis and drew far too much international attention.

Ten months ago, 19-year-old Azaria shot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the head almost 15 minutes after the terrorist had already been shot and wounded after trying to stab an Israeli soldier in Hebron.

Azaria said he believed the terrorist still posed a danger, although he had in fact already been subdued.

In the verdict Judge Col. Maya Heller rejected Azaria's conflicting arguments that the Palestinian was already dead and that he posed a danger.

Heller said Azaria was an "unreliable" witness and called the shooting "needless."

"We found there was no room to accept his arguments," Heller said. "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die."

Many Israelis backed the solider even though military officers said he had acted inappropriately.

Because the story gained international attention, there were concerns that Israel would feel pressured to return a guilty verdict.

Sharon Gal, the Azaria family's media adviser, said the courts had preferred the version of events by B'tselem, the Israeli human rights group that examines Israeli treatment of Palestinians but not Palestinian treatment of Palestinians.

"They didn't give any weight to the evidence. It was like the court was detached from the fact that this was the area of an attack. I felt that the court picked up the knife from the ground and stabbed it in the back of all the soldiers," Gal said, according to the Foreign Press pool at the court.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he disagreed with the verdict but called on the public to respect the decision.

"We must keep the army outside every political argument...and keep it in the widest consensus in Israeli society," Lieberman told reporters after the ruling.