Jerusalem, 19 September, 2026 (TPS-IL) — President Isaac Herzog signed an order Saturday night shortening the criminal record of Elor Azaria, the former IDF soldier convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting a wounded, restrained Palestinian assailant in Hebron in March 2016, a case that gripped and deeply divided Israel.
Azaria, a combat medic, was filmed shooting Abdel Fattah al-Sharif as he lay incapacitated after carrying out a stabbing attack. He was convicted in 2017, sentenced to 18 months, and later had his term reduced by then-Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot.
Herzog cited the years since the affair, time already served, Azaria’s expressed remorse, and changed personal and family circumstances, including that he is now a father of two. The president stressed that the decision doesn’t reopen or reassess the military court’s ruling, calling clemency “an act of grace, not an appeal.”