The High Court of Justice rejected on Monday a petition that sought to cancel a plea deal arranged for an IDF combat soldier who shot two Palestinians while on guard duty in Judea and Samaria, killing one and wounding the second.
Under the plea deal, which was negotiated by the soldier's attorney and the office of the Military Prosecutor, the soldier admitted to one count of negligent homicide and was sentenced to three months of military labor.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The families of the two Palestinians petitioned the court, arguing that the deal was too lenient. The families claimed that the terms of the deal did not reflect the severity of the shooting and its results.
The High Court decided that due to the complicated circumstances in which the soldier was operating, it would reject the petition. The court ruled that even if the soldier had behaved negligently and diverged from protocol about opening fire, "The action could not be attributed to criminal thinking, as in an intentional attempt to hurt innocent people."
Attorneys Shlomi Tzipori and Ran Cohen, who represented the soldier, said in response to the High Court decision: "We welcome the High Court ruling to reject the petition. The Military Prosecutor was justifiably convinced, due to his [the soldier's] claims in his hearing, to avoid trying him for serious counts. The soldier was facing a very complicated operational situation – high alert about an impending terrorist attack at the peak of a week of terrorist attacks in the field, and he was alone on guard duty and honestly believed that rocks were being thrown at Israelis that put their lives in danger."
"The plea bargain reached was balanced and will allow the soldier to make a new start in civilian life without a stain that would have weighed him down. The soldier is, of course, sorry about the Palestinian's death and the wounding of the second Palestinian, after it turned out that they were not terrorists," the lawyers said.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
