In testimony, Lt-Col. David Shapira also tells court that Elor Azaria had been under great stress over new role as company medic
The battalion commander of an Israeli soldier facing manslaughter charges for killing an incapacitated Palestinian attacker in March told a military court on Tuesday that he felt that the soldier was not telling the truth when he spoke to him after the incident.
Battalion commander Lt.-Col. David Shapira gave testimony on Tuesday in the trial of Sgt. Elor Azaria in the Jaffa Military Court, hailing Azaria’s exemplary army record up until the March 24 incident — during which Azaria was filmed shooting Palestinian assailant Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif in the head, nearly 15 minutes after al-Sharif was shot during an attempt to stab an IDF soldier in Hebron.
The incident was filmed and released by a B’Tselem activist, making international headlines. Azaria was indicted on April 18.
“Elor stood out among [the other soldiers] in his company,” Shapira said. “He dedicated himself [to the task] throughout combat training and exercises. Elor was chosen as the outstanding soldier in his company. During the entire process, he proved himself to be one of the best soldiers in the company, with no disciplinary incidents.”
Shapira added that Azaria’s service up until then had earned him a certificate for excellence and that several weeks before the incident, Azaria was personally selected by him to become the company medic “because he was one of the best soldiers and one of the best medics.”
During testimony, Shapira spoke about the concerns Azaria’s parents raised about the toll that this new position was taking on their son.
On March 20, four days before the incident, Shapira testified that Azaria’s father Charlie had called him. “He saw that Elor was stressed due to the great pressure of his new role. He told me that the smile had left his face. Being both company medic and radio operator was taking its toll.”
“I spoke with Tom [Na’aman, company commander] about this conversation with his parents and it was agreed that Tom would speak with Elor,” continued Shapira.
He then went on to describe the March 24 incident in which al-Sharif stabbed an IDF soldier near Hebron, was shot and incapacitated and a second assailant, Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, was shot and killed earlier as soldiers attempted to thwart the attack.
“The first report was of a wounded soldier, a wounded terrorist and a dead terrorist. The directive of the brigade commander was to evacuate the terrorists as quickly as possible, whether alive or dead, and this was the order I gave to the company commander,” Shapira recalled.
“When I reached the scene, it appeared to me as though both terrorists were ‘finished.’ The company commander described the attack to me. At that stage he did not tell me about Elor shooting. I divided the forces at the scene to secure it and to evacuate the two terrorists. When I passed the two terrorists I did not see anything requiring the bomb squad so I ordered their evacuation from the scene,” he went on.
“When I gave these orders, the brigade commander came and told me that he had received a report from the security officer of the nearby Jewish settlement of an irregular shot fired later by one of the soldiers and he wanted me to check it.”
Shapira then went on to recall the conversation: “I asked the company commander if there was anything irregular after the shooting of the terrorist. He told me that it was more irregular than I thought. He told me that at first he was involved with securing the outer perimeter of the scene and afterwards he managed to see the terrorist move. A few seconds later, before he had managed to do anything, he saw the head of the terrorist shatter 60 centimeters from him.”
“They told him that Elor had fired [the shot]. According to the company commander, Elor told him that ‘he is a terrorist and he must die’.”
Shapira then testified about his initial conversation with Azaria.
“I asked him why he had shot [the terrorist]. Elor answered that he saw the terrorist move his head and that there was a knife next to him. I asked Elor, ‘you were near him. Why did you not kick the knife away?’ Elor answered ‘I felt I was in danger.’ I told Elor that I felt he was not telling me the whole truth because after the incident he had told the company commander something entirely different. Elor was silent.
Shapira then said he relieved Azaria of his duties until after an initial investigation.
According to Shapira, “in that conversation Elor did not mention any fear of a bomb, only his concern about the knife which was near the terrorist.”
“Nobody warned me of a bomb threat. I didn’t see anything unusual from the direction of the terrorist. Elor spoke of his concern for the knife but not of any concern for using any weapon. Army open-fire directives distinguish between noting a definite bomb and concern for a bomb,” Shapira concluded.
This testimony bolsters the prosecution’s claims that a bomb threat was unlikely, as Sharif’s body had already been searched and because shooting toward an explosive device while other soldiers are standing nearby is not army protocol in such a situation.
As reported by The Times of Israel