What the Hebron Shooter's Trial Is Really All About

[Israeli]

A testimony at the trial of Elor Azaria, the soldier who killed a subdued Palestinian assailant in Hebron, reveals that the real battle taking place isn't about the army's values.

Zvi Bar'el Aug 30, 2016

Eliyahu Liebman’s title, security officer of Hebron’s Jewish community, is misleading. Liebman — who testified in the defense of Elor Azaria in a trial that has come to symbolize the struggle between the right and the left, the army and the settlers, the chief of staff and the ousted defense minister on one hand and the prime minister and certain cabinet members on the other hand — represents a nation. The nation of the settlers, which has placed itself as a fortified wall against principles the army purports to uphold.

This nation has a diaspora, the State of Israel. Liebman is part of a dynasty that, to many, represents the core of the settlement movement. His father, Rabbi Menachem Liebman, was among the founders of Kiryat Arba, and he stood with Rabbi Moshe Levinger in the center of Hebron and urged soldiers to refuse the “illegal orders” to remove settlers from the city center and from Avraham Avinu Synagogue. His brother Yehuda was one of the founders of Yitzhar. His brother Shlomo was killed in a terror attack in that settlement. His brother David, from the settlement of Tapuah, was part of the “new Jewish underground” that was active in 2003 and was suspected of murdering nine Palestinians.

In his testimony, Liebman castigated the defense minister and assailed the military prosecutor. Yet he was awarded a commendation by the chief of staff for his initiative and actions during a terror attack on Worshiper’s Way in Hebron. Twelve Israelis died in the attack, including Col. Dror Weinberg.

The Liebmans represent the destructive symbiosis between the Israel Defense Forces and the settlers — a symbiosis that has resulted in repeated concessions to settlement leaders, long before the advent of the “hilltop youth.”

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