Hebron Shooter Is Just a Common Soldier Fighting Netanyahu's Revolution

By killing a subdued Palestinian terrorist in Hebron, the Israeli soldier split Israeli society into two groups, but he is not the revolutionary tearing down Israel's institutions. Netanyahu is.

Ravit Hecht Jul 08, 2016

The shot fired by Elor Azaria at a subdued Palestinian assailant in Hebron last March was a watershed moment for Israeli society. It has reorganized people into two groups (leading to then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon finding himself in the same boat as Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Galon). Indeed, it serves as a sort of MRI image that maps the most explosive and inflamed issues in Israel: racism and the dehumanization of the Palestinians; the penetration of Kahanism into the heart of Israeli public affairs; the struggle for the nature of government; and the confrontation between the so-called “old elites” and the forces hostile to them.

Those defending Azaria realize that their arguments in court are crumbling. The entire chain of command – from his comrades who only want to help him (Cpl. M. testified that he didn’t feel any danger that warranted the shooting), through his company commander, battalion commander, brigade commander and right up to the former defense minister – sided with the legal system and, indirectly, the forces of democracy.

Despite the difficulty of invoking the word democracy in relation to what happens every day in Hebron, even the army’s harshest critics have to admit that, in this specific case, for now, the system is working. One after the other, army representatives have negated the defense’s argument, which suggested that the shooting was in self-defense or a result of operational necessity, and strengthened the argument that this was a violent and vindictive act of someone taking the law into his own hands. The only “concession” made – not to be taken lightly – was the reduction of the charge against Azaria from murder (made during the request to extend his detention) to manslaughter (the final indictment).

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.729628