Israeli President Isaac Herzog granted former Israel Defense Forces combat medic Elor Azaria’s request to have his criminal record cleared early, despite opposition from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior military officers.
Herzog’s decision means Azaria’s record will be cleared before 2032, when it otherwise would have been automatically removed under Israeli law, the President’s Office said.
Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in 2017 for killing Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian terrorist who had stabbed a soldier in Hebron and was lying wounded on the ground when Azaria shot him in the head. The shooting was captured on mobile phone video.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
In July, Azaria asked for the period before his criminal record is cleared to be shortened, arguing that the record was hindering his employment prospects. Defense Minister Israel Katz supported the request.
Zamir and other senior IDF officers opposed granting the request and conveyed their position to Katz in a letter. They did not, however, formally submit a recommendation on the matter to Herzog.
The President’s Office said Herzog considered the circumstances surrounding the application, including that “the statute of limitations on the crime committed has long passed.”
Herzog also cited the approach of Yom Kippur in explaining the decision.
“In the spirit of the upcoming Day of Atonement and after many years living with the consequences of his actions, President Herzog has decided that the circumstances, the length of time that passed, and the sorrow Azaria has expressed justify enabling him to be allowed to begin a new chapter in his life.”
The decision does not remove sanctions imposed on Azaria by former US President Joe Biden’s administration in 2024. Those measures include a ban on Azaria and his immediate family entering the United States.
After his release from prison, Azaria said in his first interview that he would “act exactly the same, because that’s how I needed to act.”
