"The commanders didn't know what to do," stated T.S., the Platoon Sergeant who commanded Sgt. Elor Azaria, the soldier who is on trial for shooting a wounded terrorist in Hevron. While Azaria is accused of killing the terrorist, medical expert witnesses have recently claimed that the terrorist died of the original wound, not Azaria's shot.
The Platoon Sergeant, who has now completed his service, testified this morning in Azaria's defense stating that "as long as the terrorist is moving, he is a threat."
The defense lawyer questioned the Platoon Sergeant regarding his familiarity with Azaria and he testified that Azaria was not known as an individual who expressed firm opinions against Palestinians.
The Platoon Sergeant verified that the brigade commander and other high-ranking officers, including representatives from the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, debriefed the platoon after the incident and affirmed that the episode was indeed very serious.
"I felt like my superiors were trying to protect their own reputations because they hadn't briefed us correctly beforehand."
The Platoon Sergeant was questioned about the incident and he emphasized the lack of order and lack of command that occurred immediately after.
"There were several commanders," he stated, "they apparently didn't know what to do either. None of them brought order to the chaos."