Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev (Likud) visited the parents of Elor Azariya on Sunday at their home in the city of Ramle in central Israel.
Former IDF sergeant Elor Azariya, who was convicted of manslaughter this January for the shooting death of a wounded Arab terrorist last March, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Azariya’s legal defense team has since appealed the sentence.
Azariya’s parents, Oshra and Charlie, told Regev they have been the target of harassment by Arabs who have threatened to murder their son ever since last March.
“I’ve been under threat from the first night [since the incident],” said Oshra. “We got phone calls and threats; they told us ‘we’re gonna murder your son’, and to this day I still get pictures [sent to me] of my son with the words written on it ‘The Palestinian Resistance’ and that they should murder him.”
Despite the harassment and threats, said Oshra, the government has done nothing to intervene or pursue those responsible.
“Tell me, do you want wait until disaster strikes? What happened to our security? I sent my son to serve the state – where are you? This is mandatory service. He was so proud to salute the flag of the state and today where is he? What did they do to him? They railroaded him with false accusations.”