{"id":622006,"date":"2026-09-20T15:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/622006\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T15:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:30:11","slug":"isaac-herzog-pardons-elor-azaria-clears-criminal-record-after-long-legal-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/622006\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaac Herzog pardons Elor Azaria, clears criminal record after long legal battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Isaac Herzog decided to accept Elor Azaria\u2019s<\/a> request and erase the rest of his criminal record, he announced on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“After many long years in which Azaria<\/a> bore the consequences of his actions, the president believes that the circumstances as a whole, the passage of time, and the regret he expressed justify allowing him to open a new chapter in his life. This decision was made in the spirit of these days as well, and out of a belief in the importance of repair, reconciliation and the ability to move forward,” the President\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n

Azaria began his term in prison in 2017 after being convicted of manslaughter for shooting Palestinian attacker Abdel Fatah al-Sharif on March 24, 2016, in Hebron during his IDF service.<\/p>\n

He was released from prison in 2018 after serving 18 months of his sentence.<\/p>\n

Defense Minister Israel Katz<\/a> welcomed Herzog\u2019s decision to accept his recommendation to pardon Azaria and erase his criminal record.<\/p>\n

“On the eve of Yom Kippur<\/a>, this is a correct, humane and worthy decision, expressing the spirit of forgiveness and the possibility of opening a new chapter,” Katz wrote on X\/Twitter.<\/p>\n

“Elor served as a combat soldier and an outstanding combat medic in the Kfir Brigade and became involved in an incident during complex operational activity. After a decade, after serving his sentence and paying a heavy personal and family price, the time has come to allow him to leave the past behind, rebuild his life, and build his future.”<\/p>\n

“Granting the pardon sends an important message to IDF soldiers and their families: We do not abandon soldiers, and we do not leave them behind.”<\/p>\n

“Elor, I stand with you and your family and wish you a gmar chatima tova and a year of new beginnings.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Isaac Herzog decided to accept Elor Azaria\u2019s request and erase the rest of his criminal record, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17466,246402,1031,85,46,43,41717],"class_list":["post-622006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-defense-ministry","tag-elor-azaria","tag-idf","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-yom-kippur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}