Chairman Ofer Shelah of the Yesh Atid party's Knesset faction has responded to the 18-month manslaughter sentence handed down to Elor Azariya by saying, "No one is happy to see Elor go to jail, although he did something that should not have been done. But an immediately pardon will make a mockery of the army's judicial and command system.
The retired captain noted, "A number of ways are available to Elor in mitigation of his punishment, and if he does not choose them or if they are not approved, then taking a third of the time off and detention [until now] means the minimum prison term, and that's how it should be. Our job now is to stand behind the Chief of Staff, who defended the backbone of the Israel Defense Forces against those who attacked ihim only for political reasons. That's what we did, and what we will do."