Geneva – UN Rights Office Slams Israeli Soldier’s ‘Lenient’ Sentence

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    Palestinians take part in a protest following the sentencing of Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, in the West Bank City of Hebron February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar AwadGeneva – The U.N. human rights office said Friday it’s “deeply disturbed” by the “lenient” 18-month prison sentence handed down by a Tel Aviv military court against an Israeli soldier who killed a badly wounded Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground.

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    Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani of the rights office decried a “chronic culture of impunity” in Israel when it comes to soldiers involved in the conflict with Palestinians.

    Sgt. Elor Azaria was sentenced Tuesday for manslaughter in the March shooting of Adbelfattah al-Sharif, who was wounded after he stabbed a soldier in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron. Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank and a frequent flashpoint for violence. Many of the Palestinians involved in the current round of bloodshed have come from there.

    The sentencing culminated a nearly yearlong saga that has bitterly divided Israel. While Israel’s top generals pushed for the prosecution of a soldier they say violated the military’s code of ethics, large segments of the public, including politicians on Israel’s nationalist right, sided with Azaria. Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave only lukewarm support to his military.

    Since September 2015, Israeli forces have killed 235 Palestinians and Israel says most of the those killed were attackers, while others died in clashes with Israeli forces.

    During the same period, Palestinians have carried out numerous attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, mainly stabbings but also shootings and assaults using cars, killing 41 Israelis and two visiting Americans.

    Israel says the bloodshed is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement, compounded by social media sites glorifying attackers and encouraging violence. Palestinians say it stems from frustration over decades of Israeli rule in territory they claim for a state.


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    7 Comments
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    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    7 years ago

    Anything on Syria, Rwanda, Sudan or say Iran?? This is why the UN is a complete joke and deemed irrelevant.

    abilenetx
    abilenetx
    7 years ago

    UN needs eviction notice and some nice apartment houses or condos built in that spot. Let them all go to Brussels or wherever or maybe nowhere and they all can just go home and see how wonderful there own country is doing or not.

    7 years ago

    Have they ever done that for a convicted terrorist? These two faced imbeciles.

    Trump needs to move the UN away from US borders. they are a menace to whatever morality is left on this planet.

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    7 years ago

    Sort of by definition, if you do not discipline your soldiers your soldiers are undisciplined.

    ItsMyOpinion
    ItsMyOpinion
    7 years ago

    The UN enjoys all the perks of being housed in NYC. We really should tell them to look for a new venue. It is time to stop subsidizing this irrelevant org. They never condemn the terrorists when they celebrate their attacks. Do you think they are biased toward Muslims? It is not even a question.

    qwe123
    qwe123
    7 years ago

    NOW they tell us! Why couldn’t their judge sentence him differently instead of waiting a year and suddenly changing his mind online right after he ruled already? He had long enough to make up his mind!

    StevenWright
    Member
    StevenWright
    7 years ago

    Hopefully the members of the commission will be shot by terrorists, and we will make up for it by sentencing them to much longer terms.