When we exit the house and go downstairs into the street, Elor Azaria's voice becomes very quiet. His gaze wanders sideways, constantly checking his surroundings, and whenever someone walks by, he stops talking entirely, even when the people are neighbors who nod politely. The side street where he lives is deserted and quiet shortly before Shabbat, but it is very apparent that Azaria, 21, is uncomfortable. For over two years, his life has been a whirlwind, and it has left scars.
In 2016, Azaria was at the center of a controversy that divided the country. He had shot and killed a terrorist that had already been incapacitated near the West Bank city of Hebron, and later stood trial and was convicted of manslaughter. He was recently released from prison after having served nine of the 14-month sentence he had received.
Q: Yom Kippur is approaching. Is there anyone you would like to ask for forgiveness?
"No," he says, his smile receding. "I am entirely at peace with myself. I did what needed to be done. I followed my truth. I did the right thing and I should not have had to pay a price for everything that happened. I have no remorse. I have no doubt. If you put me back in that situation, during those seconds in Hebron, I would do the exact same thing again. Because that's exactly what should have been done."
The walls of the building where Azaria lives still display countless posters supporting him. The elevator and the stairwell leading to his parents' house in Ramle are still papered with notices, stickers and signs with slogans such as "Elor Azaria – an Israeli hero" and "Elor, everyone's soldier."
Oshra and Charlie Azaria's top-floor apartment remains exactly as it was two and a half years ago, at the height of one of the most explosive controversies Israel has known. Inside the house, the campaign in support of Elor continues, even though he has been a free man for over three months. Both sides of the door, the living room walls, the large balcony, the bookshelves, even the white challah cover – all bear Elor's image, in uniform.
"My parents told me that when I get out, I will be shocked. I was more or less aware of what was happening outside, but I didn't know everything. I hardly had any furloughs. I had maybe six furloughs, and a short time under house arrest, but all that time I was restricted and couldn't leave the house."
Q: When did you learn that your sentence was reduced and that you were being set free?
"I knew that there was support out there for me, but I didn't realize the scope. It makes my heart happy, you know. The people of Israel came together and they stood united behind us all this time. I am grateful for the support and the help extended to my family at all times. It is not a given. There is no one better than our people – that is a fact. There is no one like the people of Israel."
Q: What about the IDF? And the State of Israel?
"Also. Ever since I was young, I was raised on patriotism and Zionism. I was taught to love my homeland and to defend it. We would never say 'let's start a life in another country' – this is our land and there will always be pride in our land.
"I do feel disappointment, however. My heart sours a little about the injustice and the miscarriage of justice, about what they did to me just because a few senior officials opened their mouths. It hurts. But I will always love the country and the IDF. I came out of jail wearing the same shirt I wore going in – a shirt that says 'I have no other country' and the national anthem with an Israel flag.
"Thank God, I am home. The ordeal is over. I am moving forward with my head held high. Nothing has changed for me. I will continue to love the state and I'll continue to love the army, and I still believe that it is important to serve the country, in the reserves too, and that is what I will do."
Q: You plan to serve in the reserves? Even though you were convicted of manslaughter?
"When I was discharged I got assigned to a reserves unit and a combat reserves certificate. An officer came to my house and personally gave me the assignment and the certificate. Because of the conviction, the army deducted about half of the benefits I was entitled to, but they still want me to serve in the reserves."
^^^
The Azaria family's Shabbat meal has been ready since the early afternoon. Oshra has prepared couscous and a vegetable soup and a spicy matbucha (tomato and pepper salad), and Charlie and Elor were in charge of the zucchini salad. Charlie and Oshra haven't left Elor's side since he was released. They are still very upset, hurt and wound up. They want to make their voices heard.
Charlie, 56, worked as a police investigator for 30 years. Today he is retired. Oshra, 53, worked for years as a caretaker for the elderly but left her job shortly after her son's arrest. Two weeks ago, she went back to work as an assistant kindergarten teacher, and she looks after babies as well.
Elor sits on the large sofa in the living room, wearing jean shorts and a black T-shirt that accentuates the golden pendant he wears around his neck. It is a Beitar Jerusalem pendant, as he has been a fan of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club since early childhood. Willie, a small puppy Elor received as a gift about a month before his arrest, is restlessly running around the living room.
We are joined by Elor's friend, Shachar Keller from Kibbutz Ein Tzurim, who served with Elor in his unit. He had maintained contact with the Azaria family throughout the ordeal. Since Keller is a hesder yeshiva student, he was discharged from the unit before Elor, and "became a member of the family," Oshra remarks.
The Azaria family was forever changed on the morning of Thursday, March 24, 2016. It was Purim. Shortly after 8 a.m., two young Palestinians arrived at Gilbert Junction in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, looking to attack Israeli soldiers. Wielding knives, they pounced on two soldiers manning the checkpoint at the junction and were shot on sight.
One of the soldiers sustained stab wounds, and one of the attackers was killed. The other remained on the ground, badly wounded, having sustained six gunshots. Several minutes later, the Kfir Brigade unit, in which Azaria served as a combat medic, arrived at the scene.
There was chaos at the scene of the terrorist attack. A large number of soldiers, emergency medical staff, volunteers, residents and security personnel from the Jewish community in Hebron were all milling about. When Azaria arrived, he first rushed to the wounded soldier to administer first aid and evacuate him to an ambulance. Then, according to the indictment, he began moving toward the terrorist that was lying on the ground, unmoving. He cocked his personal weapon and fired a single bullet into the terrorist's skull.
The entire event was filmed by an activist belonging to the human rights organization B'Tselem. The footage was widely distributed to all the media outlets and within hours, it became one of most controversial events in Israel's history.
From the start, Azaria dismissed the allegations against him – that he had shot the terrorist in violation of IDF protocol and without justification and that the terrorist posed no immediate threat. On January 4, 2017, a military court unanimously convicted Azaria of manslaughter and unbecoming conduct, sentencing him to 18 months in jail and 12 months' probation.
About six months later, on July 30, 2017, the court denied the appeal filed by Azaria's defense team. A panel of five judges ruled that Azaria's account was not credible and upheld his conviction. In their ruling, they reiterated that the shooting was unjustified and asserted that it was done out of vengeance rather than self-defense.
In the ruling, the judges said further that "alongside criminal culpability, the appellant's actions blatantly violated a number of norms – the value of human life, anyone's life, is a fundamental value in our society and a cornerstone of the IDF's ideology. The appellant trampled on this value when he killed a wounded and helpless terrorist even though there was no operational need to do so."
In Sept. 2017, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot shortened Azaria's sentence from 18 months to 14 months, citing "goodwill and mercy."
^^^
Azaria's appeal was denied, as were the requests submitted by more than 50 ministers and MKs – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ministers Avigdor Lieberman, Ayelet Shaked, Naftali Bennett, Moshe Kahlon and Gilad Erdan – to review the case. He was detained and incarcerated for a total of 26 months, until his release on May 8 of this year.
"The jail at the Nahshonim base was like an open jail," he says. "From noon or 1 p.m. there is almost no one around. In the mornings I did chores and in the afternoons I went back to my room and stayed there, between four walls. Everyone goes home and I have to stay with the foxes and the cats on the base."
"They gave me the NCO's room – it was a quiet room. A bed, a television, a refrigerator, a desk, a few chairs. There was a bus driver on the base who slipped a copy of Israel Hayom under my door almost every day, so I generally had something to read."
"On Fridays, my parents would come to my room to say kiddush. Sometimes they visited me during the week as well, with my brother Adir and my sisters Etti and Dana and my uncle Victor. One or twice I was allowed to have a friend over."
Q: What was the response from the soldiers on the base?
"Everyone came over to me and said, 'Way to go' and 'You did the right thing.' No one said a single bad word. After the first conviction, the commanders at Nahshonim gathered the soldiers and told them 'you know, Elor got 18 months. Give him strength.'"
^^^
The events of that morning in Hebron still resonate in Elor today. Even during this interview, he relives every moment. "That morning I was sleeping in my uniform. I was on alert as the company signal operator and brigade medic. Suddenly the other signal operator starts yelling at me 'get up! Get up!' I didn't understand what was happening. I put on my vest very fast and ran to the commander's room. He wasn't there so I went to the gate and asked a soldier there, where is everybody. I didn't really understand what he said, but I got that there was a terrorist attack and that someone got stabbed.
"I ran toward the post, with all my gear, and the first thing I saw was the wounded soldier, covered in blood. I immediately went to him, stopped the blood with my hands and bandaged him. I saw that someone had misapplied the bandage and he was gushing blood. I calmed him down, told him it was OK, because it's not pleasant when you see blood.
"According to protocol I was supposed to put on gloves before treating him, but in the field, there is no time to remember all the steps you learned. The field is not a book. The people sitting in air-conditioned rooms analyzing seconds and temperatures can continue to live in their delusions. That's not the field.
"As I was taking the wounded soldier to the ambulance, I saw the first terrorist. Then I heard screaming. Someone yelled that there was a bomb. I was hot. I was sweating like crazy. It was a mess and there was no one in charge. I looked up and I saw that there was another terrorist. I saw him, I saw that he was wearing a puffy black coat, and I heard yelling 'someone, do something.' There was a knife within his reach, despite what they later claimed. I was there. I saw how far the knife was.
"Everything together led to a moment's instinct. Everything came together and I acted just as I was taught from the moment I began learning combat. I remember cocking my gun, yelling to the company commander and the platoon commander 'move! Move!' and I shot at his head. That's where it ended."
Q: Assuming the knife was in fact within his reach, why shoot at his head, and not, say, at his hand? You knew that shooting him in the head meant death.
"It's logic. It's not … If I thought it was just about the knife, maybe I would have fired at his hand or kicked the knife away. One of the judges asked me and I explained to him: You can't pick apart the threats. There was a knife and bomb. I didn't know what he had under his clothes. Only God knew.
"I fired one shot. The terrorist's head was the only part of his body that was exposed and I learned in my medics' training that when the head is hit it affects the entire body. Not to compare, but the stroke my father had during the trial affected his entire body.
"When he was IDF chief of staff, the late Raful [Rafael Eitan] said that in the battlefield, every soldier is the chief of staff. Everyone who criticized and lost their moral bearing – they won't decide for me. They can't tell me what happened out there. No one can see inside the mind of a soldier during an operation in hostile territory."
Oshra: "The prosecutor asked Elor, 'Why didn't you shoot his hand if you thought he was going to detonate a bomb?' and Elor said, 'Because he has another hand.' Regardless, they said the shooting was motivated by vengeance. Right? But when you want vengeance you fire a lot of shots, not a single bullet."
Q: Upon investigation, it was revealed that the terrorist was not carrying a bomb. Only a knife, which was not in his hand. And in any case, he was lying on the ground in serious condition after having been shot.
Elor: "When I looked at the first terrorist, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Unlike the other terrorist, he didn't move and wasn't wearing anything suspicious. I couldn't have known that he was shot and I was certain that he had a bomb. To this day I'm a million percent convinced that there was a bomb."
Q: So where is the bomb?
Charlie: "That's a good question. There are videos where you can see the evacuation of the terrorists. One of them, they just threw a blanket over him and that's it. The other one, the one Elor shot, two soldiers hid him with a blanket. They wrapped the body and took him from there."
Elor: "Listen, regardless, I know that I'm innocent and that I acted the way I should. The fact is that after the event, I continued to secure the Purim parade for four hours, with a loaded weapon. If they think it was an 'unbecoming' event why didn't they take my weapon, first thing? They say it was an improper shooting? In that case, the ranking officer takes the weapon, takes the magazine out and keeps the shooter away from the gun. If the incident was so severe, the commander wouldn't have bothered to come to me and say, 'Pick up the terrorist's brains.' If it was so severe, then they should have grounded me on the spot, not sent me to collect the terrorist's brains."
Q: That's what you were asked to do?
"After the shooting, the company commander Maj. Tom Naaman yelled, 'Who fired?!' and I immediately said it was me. Everything continued normally, they started to evacuate the scene and the commander told me to pick up the terrorist's brains and added, 'Good luck.' I put on two pairs of gloves. My hands were still covered in the wounded soldier's blood. I didn't even know how to pick it up. Then the Zaka people came and they yelled at me. 'What are you doing? We're cleaning up the scene.'"
Q: This information did not come up in the initial investigation
"I remembered it suddenly in one of the remand hearings and I immediately told my father."
Charlie: "He said to me, 'Dad, the commander told me to pick up the brains.' I realized he was suffering from post-trauma and that he was remembering snippets all the time. I briefed the attorneys and he told them that he could see an image before his eyes of the commander telling him to pick up the brains.
"They told the judge and the military prosecutor immediately said he was lying because neither he nor the commander talked about it in their depositions. The commander didn't talk about it or report it at all. It's unusual, to ask something like that. It was only after Elor said something that he confirmed it."
Elor: "After everything happened, I sent dad a text message because I knew that my parents follow the news all the time. I told them that there was an attack and that I neutralized the terrorist. Not a second passed and he called. I told him everything was OK, not to worry about me, and that I would call when I have time."
Charlie: "I could hear in his voice that he was tense. I told him 'Elor, everything is OK.' It's not a simple thing to kill a person. I don't wish it on anyone, to do it or to see it. It's very difficult."
Elor: "It was only at around noon or 1 p.m. that the company commander called me in and told me that the Shimshon Battalion commander, Lt. Col. David Shapira, wanted to talk to me. He asked me to explain what happened, and I did."
Q: Did you explain that you were worried about the knife and about a bomb?
"I can guarantee that I told him about the knife and the bomb. When I told him about the knife he lost it and said I was lying and that he doesn't believe me. He asked why I didn't kick the knife away if I was worried about the knife. I said, 'But there wasn't just a knife, there was also a bomb' and he said that he didn't believe me and suspended me until further notice. He said that I would stand trial.
"The company commander himself was surprised when I told him what had happened. I didn't know what they wanted from me. I knew I acted properly. There was a clear and immediate threat and I had neutralized it, end of story. There was nothing unusual about the event in terms of the surroundings. We brought lots of defense witnesses who corroborated that.
"I didn't come out of nowhere. About two weeks earlier, there was a security alert about a terrorist cell. It was a serious alert, that the cell was going to execute a 'quality' attack.
"I then told a friend who served with me that I was suspended from combat and that I was going to be tried. He put down his weapon and his helmet and said, 'I don't care. I'm not staying here. What is this nonsense?' I said to him, 'Listen, there is a Purim parade, continue securing, no playing. I'll explain what happened and everything will be fine.'
"I was convinced that everything was going to be fine. I turned my weapon in. I didn't even take my stuff from my locker. I didn't take shoes or anything. I really thought that I would explain everything to the brigade commander and come right back. All good.
"The car came to take me to be tried in front of the brigade commander. I had never been on trial before. I was also still reeling a little from the event itself. I stood before the brigade commander, it was just the two of us in the room. He asked me what happened. I told him that there were two threats. He said that from the video that was posted online it didn't look good. I told him that I know what happened. I know I did what's right. After two minutes it was over. As far as I was concerned, I had told him what happened and now everything was going back to normal.
"I called my dad to tell him that I was tried and that I was going back. My father, who has some experience, said to me, 'Elor, they're going to question you. Know that you have rights. I'll get you a lawyer.'"
Charlie: "No one approached us or offered Elor a military defender. No one. I approached attorney Yossi Boker, whom I knew, and he helped us in the beginning."
Elor: "I didn't understand what my father was talking about. I thought I was done.
"But I wasn't done. Military investigators took me in for questioning. They were mean to me. One of them snatched my phone from my hand while I was talking to my dad.
"They took me to the base and I waited in the car for 30 minutes. I said, 'I'm thirsty, let me just go get a soda.' Eventually one of them brought me a bottle of water. I was hot, and I got comfortable in the seat. It's the way I sit naturally. So one of them yelled at me, 'who do you think you are? Why are you sitting like that?'
"From there they took me to a base in Beersheba and the investigation began. The investigator sat across from me and said, 'Listen, you are being charged with the murder of a Palestinian.' I was in shock. 'Murder? What murder? What's wrong with you? What Palestinian? It was a terrorist.' Then the lead investigator joined us. It was hard for him to hear my truth. I later understood that they had already decided to go with what the senior defense officials had said in the media."
Q: What do you mean?
"I was taken in at 6 or 6:30 p.m. Two hours earlier, Moshe Ya'alon, the defense minister, now thankfully the former defense minister, issued a statement, and so did the IDF chief of staff, supposedly after an internal and operational investigation. How is that logical, if I was only questioned two hours later? The people will decide who is lying. The IDF Spokesperson issued a statement before my investigation saying that the chief of staff thought this was a grave incident."
Q: Did you know about all this?
"I heard people talking about it on the radio on the way to Beersheba, but I didn't really understand what was going on exactly. I thought I was going home. What is this nonsense? But during questioning I understood. I told the investigators that I had been thrown to the wolves to please the world. During questioning, I realized that people were talking against me. To this day I feel like I was thrown to the wolves."
^^^
"In the first two investigations, the charge was murder," Elor continues. "It was only the third time around that the charge was reduced to manslaughter. And then, in the first hearing at court, the prosecutor called the terrorist 'the deceased.' He also called him 'defenseless' and 'helpless' – it was shameful.
"They talk to me about the sanctity of life. Show me a Jewish mother who hands out candy after her precious child is killed. That's not sanctity of life. I don't know how anyone can describe a terrorist with the words 'deceased' or 'defenseless.' That's how it is when everything becomes distorted; when everything is already decided in advance at the top.
"Nothing would have happened if everything had been honest. If there was no miscarriage of justice, and if all kinds of senior officials hadn't opened their mouths and spewed nonsense. They are still saying this nonsense.
"I still can't grasp it. I know I acted properly, no one will convince me otherwise. That's why I appealed. As much as everyone tried to dissuade me, I didn't give up. There is only one truth and I am going all the way with it, with my head held high. My parents told me that, even with the little things, stick with the truth to the end.
"No one will change that. No minister and no official. Many people tried to convince my previous lawyers not to appeal. They there would be a counter appeal. I didn't back down, and I filed the appeal. People were so upset to see that."
Q: Was it your position or were you pressured? Was there pressure from the people who enlisted to support you?
"No one can tell me to do X, Y or Z. When I was 18 or 19 I was responsible for civilians' lives. I said that I know I'm innocent, and I'm going all the way. No question."
Charlie: "Long before the indictment was filed, I was offered a deal – if Elor expresses remorse and confesses, he will get only a year and a half in jail. I said what should he confess to? The right thing that he did? You taught him to be a fighter, you put a weapon in his hand, and that's what a fighter does when there is real danger."
Elor: "I remember that offer. I said no way. I have nothing to be remorseful about. No one can see inside a fighter's judgment. I won't confess and I won't express remorse and I know I did everything right. I will face trial and I will be exonerated and quite a few people will feel very ashamed.
"The fact that it reached the point of appeal demonstrates how rigged the whole thing was. Influencing witnesses, distorted facts. The key testimony, that of the company commander, was stricken. But still, I was convicted."
Charlie: "They did things that, if they were done in a civil trial, the judge would have kicked the prosecutor in the ass all the way to hell, and I say this as a police investigator. Everything was rigged."
^^^
"Emotionally speaking, the most important trial of my career was, without a doubt, Elor Azaria's," says attorney Yoram Sheftel, who represented Azaria in the appeal.
Referring to his stint defending convicted Nazi John Demjanjuk, Sheftel says that "in the Demjanjuk trial, my motivation was to shatter the show trial that the man had been given. I obviously had no sentiments for this Ukrainian non-Jew. Conversely, in Elor's case, everything I had was directed to making things better for him.
"What I wanted with all my being and all my might, and did not succeed, sadly, was to rescue him from the talons that had grasped his throat and denied him the slightest chance at a fair trial. The moment the defense minister and the chief of staff publicly admonished Elor, calling him a beastly murderer who shot a terrorist without reason, before any type of investigation even began, they robbed him of whatever chance he could have had.
"His fate was sealed. A military court will never acquit a defendant that was viewed this way by the defense establishment. I have no doubt that ultimately, the chief of staff shortened Elor's sentence by four months just to atone for the way he spoke that day, sealing Elor's fate."
According to Sheftel, "It was actually the challenge of the impossible that generated boundless motivation to achieve the only logical legal conclusion – Elor's complete acquittal. He acted the way any soldier would be expected to act. The conviction in the lower court relied first and foremost on the testimony of the company commander, Tom Naaman. That testimony was stricken in its entirety in the appeal, but the conviction was upheld. This proves that the appeal verdict is tainted with complete lack of logic.
"Another key testimony, given by private T.M., relied heavily on the company commander's account. Therefore, under the rule of legal evidence, the moment the company commander's testimony collapsed, this testimony should have also been stricken. Furthermore, the private's assertion that Elor yelled that the terrorist wanted to kill his friend and therefore deserved to die – allegedly proving Elor's vengeful motivation – contradicted the facts from the scene. It contradicts the objective video filmed by B'Tselem.
"Elor's conviction is a legal outrage – one of the biggest in the history of the state. A conviction that is refuted by hard evidence. It is nearly unprecedented. It is very unfortunate that an IDF soldier who killed a terrorist under circumstances that demanded it has been sent to prison."
Elor: "It is time that the public knew some things. When I was in one of the detention facilities, a number of senior officers involved in the case came to me. Names are not important. They said, 'we want to talk to you.' My first response was 'I don't want to see them.' But then I took some time and thought to myself that I actually do want to confront them with the facts. We met. They lowered their gazes and I insisted on looking them in the eye. They asked me to promise that our meeting would be kept confidential and nothing would leak. They didn't want anyone to know about it. They said to me 'we're sorry. We made a mistake.' They said that their conscience was bothering them. That was a disappointment on top of a disappointment."
Q: What were they sorry about?
"That they lied in their testimonies. I told them I would keep my word. That no one would know about our conversation. I didn't even tell my brothers. I just said, 'OK, you've cleared your conscience with me, you can check off that box, now there are two more people I want you to apologize to. You know my family – no one will kick you out. Talk to my parents. I know that you have important jobs and you don't have time, a phone call will suffice.'
"We set a time for them to call the next day. I was on furlough at home and I waited with my parents for them to call. Nothing. No phone call. To this day. It only made it clear to me that they had only come to me to clear their conscience."
Q: Are you saying that you heard witnesses in the case confess that they lied in their testimony? Why won't you reveal their names?
"I won't expose them. My word is like steel. It is my honor. Even though they spat in my face, sorry for the expression. Only my parents know who they are."
Charlie: "I respect Elor. He gave his word of honor. In our family, we have our honor. So I keep my mouth shut and push it inward. These people stabbed not only him in the back but all IDF soldiers. Understand this, officers who lie for a promotion. For heaven's sake.
"We send our children out there, to follow commanders. If commanders don't have the soldiers' backs, we've lost it. I raised my children to accept responsibility and that a word of honor is a word of honor. That's exactly how Elor is behaving. When Elor sees an elderly lady on the bus, he will give up his seat. You don't see that with others. That's how my children were raised."
Elor: "I understood early on that everything was predetermined from high up. When I was at Nahshonim, a military police officer approached me and told me that he had seen one of the judges who ruled on my detention. The judge told him 'I'm so happy I'm not on that case anymore. A cloud has been lifted.' That's when I understood that it was even higher up that the decision was made. The judges knew that they had an acquittal, but who would dare acquit when the defense minister, the chief of staff and other general staff officials could lose their seats over it? It is much simpler to just convict the lowly soldier, and let him deal with it."
Q: Ya'alon left the Defense Ministry shortly after the incident. Why do you think it continued after he left?
"The effort wasn't just his. The chief of staff said that the soldiers' motivation wasn't harmed, but then he went on television with a group of other chiefs of staff and when they were asked about their biggest challenge, he said, 'Elor Azaria.' What about Iran? Hamas? Hezbollah? Arson terrorism? I'm your challenge?
"They threw a soldier under the bus so that the Palestinians won't rise up and stage a day of rage, as Ya'alon explained. But the Palestinians have plenty of days of rage. Every Friday in Hebron in a day of rage."
^^^
Elor's brother got married on a Wednesday, a day before Elor's release. The family thought that he would have been released already by then but only realized that they had miscalculated when it was too late. "In jail, there's a 72-hour furlough that is usually tacked on to the release date," Elor explains. "I submitted a request to be released 96 hours before the release so I could make my brother's henna party. The henna party was on a Monday. They promised me an answer by Sunday, but on Monday I still didn't know if I was getting out or not.
"In jail, I worked at a workshop run by a civilian. He also submitted a request for an answer. He told me that the answer he was given was 'there are regular soldiers, and then there is Elor Azaria. The highest echelons need to approve his release.'
"I took it really hard. I told him I would beg. Even if I miss my brother's wedding. I did end up missing the henna party, but the next day, after prayers, an officer told me I was being released. It was 6:15 in the morning I think. I asked for a few minutes to say goodbye to the soldiers and they said, 'Nothing. You get out of here now.' They put the soldiers into cells, cleared the area and escorted me out. It was only in the car that they let me call my parents to let them know that I was coming home."
Oshra: "At 6:30 a.m. I got a call from him and I started yelling with excitement. I think the entire neighborhood heard me.
Q: Why was the release done this way?
Oshra: "So that it wouldn't turn into a circus. A party. Even though it was a huge celebration. It was the most joyous."
Charlie: "Within an hour, convoys started arriving at our house. From all corners of the land. The house was full of people for the first few days and we didn't leave Elor's side for a second."
^^^
In the last few months since his release, Elor has already gone twice on vacation with his parents to Eilat and his sister Dana, who is currently studying medicine in France. Next week they are planning another vacation, this time in Tiberias. "I don't like going abroad," he says. "Thank God, I prefer being here."
Before his release, Elor and his girlfriend Orel broke up. "It's personal. I don't want to get into that," he says quickly. "I respect her."
Every so often he goes out with friends in Ramle or in Rishon Lezion. He is mainly getting used to being a civilian again. "A lot of things have changed. Sometimes, when I go out for a stroll in the neighborhood with my parents, I realize that I don't remember the way anymore. I discover new buildings. This week I wanted to go to this bakery where I always ate white chocolate croissants. Turns out that it shut down a year and a half ago."
Q: What kind of responses do you get on the street?
"Everyone recognizes me. I get a lot of support, a lot of love. I told you, there's no one like the people of Israel. In Eilat, when we were on vacation, someone saw me in the hotel lobby after havdalah [the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat]. He introduced himself, told me he was an officer in an elite unit and said, 'Listen to me, you did what was right.' He gave me his number and offered to help me find a job. He offered to take care of me, with love."
Q: Have there been negative responses?
"I'll be honest, I haven't gotten one unsupportive comment. Everyone says I was justified.
"A month ago, I visited Hebron with my parents. I went back to where it all began. I went to pray in the Tomb of the Patriarchs. The soldiers there were apparently given an order not to talk to me so that no one would film us together. So they stood with their backs to me and said to me 'Elor, we love you.'
"We brought a lot of surprises for them – snacks, candy – but they couldn't take anything from me. So I gave everything to the residents of Hebron and asked them to give it to the soldiers."
Q: Were there friends who let you down? Severed contact?
"My friends gave me a lot of strength. From my first furlough, they came to my house wearing civilian clothes. Not in uniform, so that they wouldn't get in trouble.
"Not everyone was cool. I won't go into detail. Those who were good to me know how much I appreciate them. Friends from the army as well as friends from Ramle."
Q: If this affair hadn't happened, where would you be today?
"I would be a month after my discharge and I believe that at this point I would already be working in a government, security job. Even before I enlisted, I knew that I would work in the security services. I wanted to be a bodyguard. My dream is to join the SWAT team. Everything was in place in my head. That was my direction in life.
"Before being drafted to the army I took prep courses, joined hikes, trained at the gym. In the evenings I went running. The plan was to be a combat soldier, possibly extend my service, then on to the security service. Straight ahead, no turning right or left.
"But over the last two years, I've become interested in studying law, so that I can help soldiers. Represent soldiers. After the injustice I suffered, I said, 'I'm going to help soldiers.' But after I did a little digging, I learned that I can study law but I can never be accredited because I have a record for manslaughter.
"I know that I will help soldiers in any way that I can, even as a simple civilian. Every soldier who asks for help, I will stand at attention for them. But all the things that I really wanted, all the things I had in my head, they're gone. Now I have to think about what I want to do. It won't be easy for me. I know that there are people high up who don't like me."
Q: Do you think your experience affected other soldiers' motivation? Do you think there is a decline in motivation?
"Soldiers know that the motivation has indeed declined. There are people who close their eyes and try to say that it hasn't, but that is the reality. After my first conviction, there was a ramming terrorist attack on the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem. Four soldiers were murdered by a terrorist in a truck. I wasn't there and I won't judge by the footage, but ultimately, the soldiers who were there held back and didn't neutralize the terrorist. That says it all."
Q: If you were an attorney and Elor Azaria were to come to you. What would you advise the young soldier to do, in light of your experience?
"I would tell him to stick to his truth. I would find the best path for him. But if I understood that he is innocent, I would tell him to go all the way. Don't agree to the lies to please others, no way. Throughout the trial, I was shown a white spoon and told to say it was black. I insisted that it was white. I know that a lot of people didn't like it – so they didn't like it. I'm not too worried about it."
^^^
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit issued a response to the allegations raised in this interview: "The allegations were raised by Elor Azaria's attorneys throughout the trials, in the military court, the district court and the appellate court. The claims were reviewed and received detailed responses in the rulings. Most were dismissed unequivocally. Elor Azaria was convicted of a serious crime – manslaughter – and the verdict is clear and piercing. It sends a clear message on the topic of military values and the importance of the purity of arms. The verdicts speak for themselves."
