Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman
Foreign Minister Avigdor LibermanYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

Yisrael Beytenu chair MK Avigdor Liberman took to social media on Sunday to criticize the politicians who rushed to accused a soldier of murder for shooting a neutralized terrorist and are attempting to find him guilty through any means necessary.

Liberman posted the following statement on his Facebook page:

“The ethical dilemmas in the struggle for the right of Israel’s existence have accompanied us since its establishment until today, from the Convoy of 35 (a convoy of Haganah fighters that were killed and had their bodies mutilated by Arabs in 1948) to Lieutenant Uri Binamo. Therefore, before judging someone, one must first address all the facts and only the facts, without prejudice. So here are some of the facts that are provoking doubt:

1. To the best of my knowledge, since the establishment of the IDF there has not been an appeal case to Military Prosecution and the Military Court that was postponed twice. The fact that this happened means there is weak evidence to the case.

2. The video distributed by the B'Tselem organization is clearly edited and biased.

3. The MDA investigation unequivocally supports the soldier's version and provides facts contradicting those who rushed to condemn the soldier before a Military Police investigation even began and before the military court even spoke.

4. The most serious offense is the biased leak of the investigation, which should have been a closely guarded military secret where even the military police officer in charge of the investigation should not have been allowed to see, yet officials with biased viewpoints such as the defense minister, cited excerpts from the investigation before the soldier or his lawyers even got a change to read it.

5. The IDF unit that was at the scene called for a bomb squad which never arrived.

6. Although it was a hot day, the terrorist was wearing a heavy faux furcoat.

These facts indicate that more than any other problem, to say the least, the conduct of those who rushed to "convict" the soldier and decided right away that he is guilty and used excessive force and hurt the moral values ​​of the IDF, and those who hastily blame the politicians without admitting that they themselves very quickly jumped to conclusions.

This pitiful stance of blaming politicians and undermining the authority of the army and its commanders, despite a number of politicians who supported the soldier and stuck to the facts, has unfortunately received reinforcement from many media outlets which conducted themselves in a biased manner, while pumping the illusion that there is no other stance besides that represented by the Minister of Defense and anyone who expressed a different position had no right to do so.

I began this statement with reference to the Convoy of 35 and I conclude by saying that over the years we have paid a very heavy price with the lives of our best and young because of unnecessary indecision and hesitation. Thus, a soldier sent to battle by the army, even if he makes a mistake, must be certain that he has a backup, that the nation is behind him and he is not just a scapegoat and will be used as a target for persecution of a slanderous campaign.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened, I feel that there are those who are determined to justify their quick accusations and convict the soldier no matter what and without a fair trial.”