Professor of Israel Studies @UCLA, scholar-in-residence @NexusProjectUS, new book published by @PrincetonUPress in Jan 2027: "The Question of Antisemitism"
By pardoning Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter a decade ago for killing a wounded Palestinian attacker, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is following in the footsteps of his late father, President Chaim Herzog, who in 1986 pardoned the head of Israel's internal security agency, the Shin Bet, and four of its officers who were involved in ordering and covering up the killing of a Palestinian bus hijacker. The difference between these two pardons 40 years apart is that back then the "Bus 300 affair," as Israelis called it, was a national scandal that shocked most Israelis. Azaria, by contrast, was hailed as a hero by many Israelis and there will probably be little, if any, public outrage over his pardon.