In the eyes of Education Minister Naftali Bennett, IDF soldier Elor Azariya, who is on trial for manslaughter, must return home regardless of the verdict in his trial. Bennett told the media is continues to monitor the trial, and if the young soldier is convicted, he must immediately be pardoned without spending a day in prison. He released the same message on his Facebook page.

Bennett feels the probe into the shooting was tainted and the soldier simply was not treated fairly, placing a finger of blame at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Bennett feels the main message that soldiers must receive is that the nation stands behind them amid a realization the last year was plagued with Arab terror attacks and that the soldiers are on the frontline doing their best to protect the nation.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)