Charges and countercharges of UCI, excessive leniency in Azaria case

As predicted, lots of blowback to the 18-months-for-manslaughter sentence in the case of IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria. Here's a piece that contends Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon exercised unlawful command influence and argues that the charges should have been disposed of by the accused's commander as a disciplinary offense.

Haaretz took a very different tack in this editorial. Excerpt:

[T]he exceptionally lenient sentence handed down on Tuesday in the case of soldier Elor Azaria – 18 months in prison, plus a suspended sentence and a demotion in rank – represents a serious deviation from the norms expected of the legal system by the military court that heard the case. 

While the verdict, in which the court convicted Azaria of manslaughter, was constructed in exemplary fashion from the fundamental norms of the rule of law, Tuesday’s sentence looks like it was tailored as a kind of political compromise, and thereby stains the fundamental norms that guide the military justice system.

For another disturbing article, critical of the sentence, consider this one by Amira Hass, also for Haaretz.