Elor Azariya during reading of verdict
Elor Azariya during reading of verdictFlash90

According to Israel Hayom writer Boaz Bismuth, the saga of convicted IDF soldier Elor Azariya's trial will not end until he is pardoned.

"The only reason the public knows about the fact that an IDF soldier shot a wounded terrorist in the head is because of B'tselem's cameras," Bismuth wrote. "That's what made the difference.

"If it were not for the fact that we live in a conscious age - it could very well be that this trial and conviction would never have happened. This incident happened in a threatening situation, when a terrorist needed to be neutralized.

"Elor Azarya would still have had to justify his actions, but not in court. Instead, he would have had an internal trial, within his battalion. But just like these events, which were taken out of proportion, the choice to take Azariya to a court resulted in much harm to the army and to the 'battle for the consciousness' of the public. And this failure has caused a lot of damage.

"This 'consciousness' needs to be saved. We had an extraneous trial which caused us to lose control and caused politicians and others with personal interests to interfere in the army. It's caused a storm on the internet... We've lost the battle for the Israeli public's awareness.

"The relatively light punishment - 18 months - does not fit with the conviction of manslaughter, and this only raises the level of confusion. Is the IDF truly is the Defense Force of Israel, or is it a Defense Force for Awareness? Any civilian will tell you that the IDF's job is first of all to win, and only then to lecture. Even the judges who sent Azariya to jail will tell you that they sent him to jail only because they were told to by officials.

"No one waited for the actual investigation to be concluded, and no one waited to hear the results. Instead, they immediately tagged Azariya's bullet as something which harms the IDF's morals.... This trial has exposed all of the extremism our society has.

"Sure it would have been better if Azariya had not fired his shot. And it would have been even better if the terrorist had not carried out a terror attack, and even better if there didn't have to be a war. But it looks like we're about to have another Gaza war, so let's hope the that IDF will think of only one thing while they fight: Winning the war, not the court.

"Because even B'tselem's cameras can't change the truth."