Elor Azaria
Elor AzariaFlash 90

Elor Azaria, the former IDF soldier jailed for shooting a wounded Arab terrorist in 2016, has almost finished writing his book From Dark to Light, in which he describes all the events surrounding the shooting and the subsequent trial from his point of view, exposing unknown details to the public and pointing an accusatory finger at then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon.

In a special interview with Arutz Sheva, Azaria talks about his book. "Many many things in the book will leave people with their mouths wide open. Readers will understand first-hand what exactly happened in Hevron. They'll see that this was a perfectly normal event, and then they'll see the circus that took place afterward and the distortion of justice that was inflicted on me, my family and the Jewish people. It's time for everyone to know the truth."

Azaria puts most of the blame on then defense minister Ya'alon, who he says abandoned him by surrendering to the B'Tselem video.

"You have to understand how everything was completely normal after I shot the terrorist. Following the shooting in which I neutralized the terrorist, I continued in my post, guarding the Purim march for 4-5 hours. If as they say, something unusual happened, explain how everything went on as usual."


"It all began when Ya'alon opened his mouth and stuck a knife in my back. He surrendered to B'Tselem, a terrorist-supporting organization. That's when everything began. At one of the conferences that he organized he said that he condemned me because he was afraid of a flare-up in Hevron," Azaria stressed.

"The B'Tselem video didn't have sound at first. I explained how it was a hot day and the heavy coat of the terrorist plus the intelligence alerts and everything else that caused me to neutralize the terrorist. They didn't believe me. They told me that there was no shouting at the scene that the terrorist had an explosive device. But the film didn't have sound. A forensic officer came to develop the volume on the video and he heard voices. He amplified the volume so they could hear the shouts. There were shouts in the background that the terrorist was hiding an explosive device on his body."

"I wasn't guilty of anything and I shouldn't have received any punishment. There are soldiers that call my father almost every day, saying they don't know how to act, they don't know what's permitted and what's forbidden. This incident caused soldiers to be afraid of responding and there's evidence of this."

Azaria emphasizes that "at every opportunity, I thank everyone for their support during that time. People continue to embrace me and my family until today. I thank the Jewish people for everything."

Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said in response to Azaria's claims, " The public can read the truth and the facts in the legal verdicts and in my book The Long Short Road. You can only write lies in a 'fake book.' It's a shame that Elor and his family continue to be pawns in the hands of political interest groups."