Rivlin refuses Azaria pardon
Israel's president has refused to pardon the country's most controversial army reservist – generating so much anger on the right that pictures casting the head-of-state as a Palestinian are flying around social media.
ISRAEL’S President has refused to pardon the country’s most controversial army reservist – generating so much anger on the right that pictures casting the head-of-state as a Palestinian are flying around social media.
Elor Azaria is serving jail time after fatally shooting an injured Palestinian terrorist when he was a conscript.
The army pushed for his conviction, as he flouted protocols, but many rightist Israelis leapt to his defence and insisted that a soldier mustn’t be punished for actions against a terrorist.
These Azaria supporters were outraged this week when Reuven Rivlin declined to pardon the soldier.
And some have taken an extreme step of distributing a doctored picture of the President, in a move that prompted a police investigation.
In the image, Rivlin is wearing a keffiyeh, the head dress that is a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, in an apparent attempt to question his loyalty to Israel.
Many Azaria supporters have voiced their anger in more mainstream ways. Culture Minister Miri Regev made a video claiming that the President “missed a big opportunity, abandoned the soldier Elor Azaria, and harmed the institution of pardons”.
Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman had asked Rivlin to grant a pardon, and said that he missed “an opportunity to put an end to this affair that shook Israeli society”.
Lieberman added, “Even at this hour, we must not forget that this is an outstanding soldier and a terrorist who had come to kill.”
Rivlin wrote in his decision that granting a pardon would harm the army, as it is important to maintain high standards of control over how soldiers use their weapons.
“The values of the Israel Defence Forces, among them the purity of arms, are the core foundation of the strength of the IDF,” he stressed.
Rivlin added that these values “have always stood strong for us in the just struggle for our right to a safe, national home, and in the building of a robust society”.
NATHAN JEFFAY
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