Assurnet – I am the father of a soldier in the Israeli army who is very similar to Elor Azaria – he’s also a Sargent and a medic in Kfir, though in a different battalion. My son’s reaction was that while the terrorist definitely deserved to die, it was not Sgt. Azaria’s place to act as judge, jury, and executioner, and his story about how he was afraid there might be a suicide vest was not credible. As such, while I definitely sympathize with Sgt. Azaria, and on a personal level agree with what he did, it clearly seems that he violated open fire rules, and the army, as a body that only works and is able to function properly based on discipline, had no choice but to charge and try him for violating orders.
That being said, I hope the consequences to him are minimal, and that he is soon able to get on with his life – since, as you say, all soldiers are “our children”.
an Israeli Yid