Supporters of Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier, who shot a Palestinian terrorist in Hebron, demonstrate outside defense HQ in Tel Aviv on January 4, 2017 But she adds that the verdict will cause a social divide in Israel and says the president should therefore consider pardoning him. Though he publicly supported IDF soldier Elor Azaria before assuming the post of defense minister, Avigdor Liberman offers a tempered response to the manslaughter conviction of the IDF soldier.