# Israeli president pardons combat medic Azaria

> A decade after his conviction for shooting a wounded Palestinian, Elor Azaria walks free following a presidential pardon that reignites old divisions.
- Title: Israeli president pardons combat medic Azaria · the Guardian
- Summary: A decade after his conviction for shooting a wounded Palestinian, Elor Azaria walks free following a presidential pardon that reignites old divisions…
- Keywords: elor azaria, isaac herzog, israel, west bank, hebron, combat medic, pardon, manslaughter conviction, palestinian attacker, military court, news, world
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/19/israel-president-pardon-elor-azaria-wounded-palestinian-attacker
- Author: Associated Press in Jerusalem
- Published: 2026-09-19T20:32:17+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: elor azaria, isaac herzog, israel, west bank, hebron, combat medic, pardon, manslaughter conviction, palestinian attacker, military court, news, world
## Medic shot wounded attacker
Elor Azaria, twenty years old, shot dead Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in Hebron after al-Sharif stabbed a soldier. Video showed Azaria shooting the unarmed, badly wounded man in the head.
## Court convicted Azaria of manslaughter
In twenty seventeen, a military court found Azaria guilty of manslaughter. He served two-thirds of an eighteen-month sentence before release. The conviction was rare for a soldier's deadly action in the field.
## Azaria said he would act the same
After his release, Azaria said he would act exactly the same, because that's how he needed to act. In his pardon request, he called the shooting an operational error.

> I would act exactly the same, because that's how I needed to act.
## President Herzog grants pardon
President Isaac Herzog pardoned Azaria on Saturday, citing time passed and the approaching Yom Kippur holiday. Defence minister Israel Katz recommended the pardon. The military's chief of staff opposed it.
## Case divided Israel for a decade
The conviction split the country. Many Israelis supported Azaria during stabbings and attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups called the sentence too lenient. Prosecutors had sought three to five years.
## Pardon reignites old tensions
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the pardon emotional and very happy. Palestinian government minister Issa Karaka had called the original sentence a joke. The divisions once forced a defence minister to resign.

> Cancelling the criminal record of someone who killed a terrorist makes me emotional and very happy.
## Key takeaway

Israeli president Isaac Herzog pardoned combat medic Elor Azaria, convicted in twenty seventeen for shooting dead a wounded Palestinian attacker, reopening a case that deeply divided the country.