The trial of Sergeant Elor Azaryia, who has been accused of manslaughter after shooting a wounded terrorist in Hevron earlier this year, continued on Tuesday in a military court in Jaffa.
On Tuesday morning, Brigadier-General (reserve) Shmuel Zakkai took the witness stand, testifying on behalf of the defense.
In his testimony, Zakkai said that, in his opinion, Azariya was justified in his actions, noting that in such a situation the possibility of an explosive device would make opening fire an appropriate course of action.
“Shooting for no particular reason and only seeking to kill is totally unacceptable and is in violation to the IDF’s values, and I would oppose it,” said Zakkai.
“The accused claims that he opened fire because he was worried that the terrorist may have been carrying a bomb on his person, and that is a legitimate reason – so the shooting was justified.”
Azariya, Zakkai claimed, did not “shoot to kill”, but appeared in the video to be shooting out of desperation, in fear that the terrorist was reaching to activate a bomb.
“The way the accused carried out the shooting, as can be seen in the video, suggests that he fired out of fear.”
“I understand the difference between fears over a [potential bomb] and the actual discovery of an explosive device,” Zakkai continued. “I saw the video and that’s not the way a person fires when he’s shooting to kill.”
Zakkai added that all threats must be examined in such situations, a duty that falls upon the commanding officer.
“An officer needs to show his soldiers the threats in stabbing attacks, as well as the threats of combination terror attacks.”