Israeli Soldier Found Guilty in Shooting of Palestinian - Shows Why the U. S. Supports Israel

Criticism Aside - Israel is a Country of Justice

This forum and many others have been and will be highly critical of Israel's policy towards reaching a settlement with its neighbors over the disputes which have caused so much death and destruction.  But no one should mistake criticism for condemnation, and no one should doubt that the one great humanitarian democracy in the middle east is Israel.

Illustrating this is that an Israeli soldier has been found guilty of shooting a Palestinian.


JERUSALEM — A military court on Wednesday convicted an Israeli soldier of manslaughter for shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay wounded on the ground, laying down a decisive marker in a case that has polarized Israelis and rocked the pedestal on which the military normally stands.

The verdict is an affirmation of the rule of law.

The military’s rules make clear that assailants must be quickly incapacitated, but that once neutralized, they should not be killed. But critics and rights groups have accused Israeli soldiers and police officers of being quick to pull the trigger, particularly in response to a recent spate of deadly stabbings, shootings and car attacks by Palestinians.

And even one of the most hard line Israeli government officials is on the side of law and justice.

“This is a tough verdict,” he said, “and the first thing I ask of all of us — those who like the verdict and those like me who like it less — we are all obligated to respect the court’s decision. We are obligated to maintain restraint.”

Before his appointment as defense minister in May, Mr. Lieberman, then a member of the opposition in Parliament, had attended the military court to support Sergeant Azaria and called the legal proceedings a “theater of the absurd.”

But after the verdict on Wednesday, he said, “We must keep the army above and beyond all political argument.”


So again, message to the enemies of Israel. Israel will not be defeated and destroyed. Israel will not allow that. The United States will not allow that. The world will not allow that.  Recognize Israel's right to exist and anything is possible.