A Sergeant's Conviction Exposes an Internal Threat to Israel

On Jan. 4, a military court convicted Sergeant Elor Azariah of manslaughter. The prosecution had charged him with violating the Israeli Defense Forces' rules of engagement last March when he shot a Palestinian terrorist who was already subdued. Azariah insisted that he fired because he believed that the seemingly neutralized terrorist still constituted a threat. The court did not believe him, ruling that Azariah fired out of desire for retribution -- the terrorist had just tried to kill some of Azariah’s fellow soldiers. That, the judges said, Israeli justice could not abide.

The former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, who has shown little sympathy for Azariah since the shooting, pithily captured the intent of the court’s voluminous ruling. “We don’t just shoot at people," he said. "Not even if he’s a terrorist.”