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AT FIRST, David Shapira thought the gunshot sounds might be from fireworks.Purim was a few weeks away and loud noises in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood were expected.It was March 6, 2008, and Shapira – then a major in the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade – was at home putting his children to bed. But when the gunshots continued, Shapira understood something was wrong.He pulled his sidearm out of the closet and ran across the street to the entrance of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva where a couple of policemen were already standing, debating what to do.“Don’t go inside,” the policemen told Shapira. They knew an attack was under way but had no idea how many terrorists were inside and urged the IDF officer to wait for special forces to arrive. Shapira dismissed their warnings and dashed inside. He scanned the hallway and a few rooms until he got to the library where the screams were coming from. There, he identified the terrorist, opened fire and killed him.Eight yeshiva students were murdered in the attack. Nearly a dozen more were injured. Had Shapira not entered when he did, the death toll would have been higher. In the citation of valor he later received, the IDF wrote that Shapira “demonstrated courage by taking action to save lives while putting his own life in danger.”I mention this story because this week, Shapira took the stand at the trial of Elor Azaria, the IDF soldier who shot and killed a Palestinian terrorist lying wounded and “neutralized” on a street in Hebron. Shapira testified as the former commander of the Shimshon Battalion and Azaria – better known as the “Hebron shooter” – was one of his soldiers.Shapira told the court how he had arrived at the scene in Hebron shortly after Azaria shot Abdel Fatah al-Sharif in the head. He immediately conducted an impromptu review of the shooting and questioned Azaria. Together with the commander of the nearby regional brigade, Shapira was the one who ultimately decided to call in Military Police to investigate the incident.During his testimony, Shapira said that Azaria had lied to him and had changed his story when questioned at the scene. First, Shapira said, Azaria told his immediate commander that he shot Sharif since “he was a terrorist and needed to die.” When Shapira questioned him at the scene though, Azaria apparently said that he shot Sharif since he was moving and a knife was lying nearby. In short, Shapira claimed, Azaria was a liar.It didn’t take long for Azaria’s supporters to begin targeting Shapira. A Facebook group established to support the soldier quickly sprang into action to demonize the battalion commander.The same happened a couple weeks before after Azaria’s immediate commander, Maj. Tom Naaman, also testified on behalf of the prosecution.At the same time as Shapira was being cursed on Facebook, an online crowdfunding campaign was raising money to fund Azaria’s legal expenses.By Thursday morning, over 4,000 people had contributed nearly NIS 600,000.The Azaria trial is a watershed moment for the IDF and possibly for Israeli society at large. At a time when terrorist attacks are a regular occurrence throughout the country, the Azaria case has hit a raw nerve among Israelis who, like in previous wars and intifadas, are torn from within about how the government and the military should respond and if enough is being done.The political intervention in this case from the beginning – Netanyahu called to support Azaria’s father as did other government ministers – has only made things worse.Ultimately, we should have faith in the IDF’s legal system and in the three judges whose ruling will be based on the evidence and the facts and how they match up with the IDF’s legal code.Nevertheless, sometimes it is important to remember what true bravery is and who the real heroes are. Shapira is one of them. Azaria, no matter how his trial ends, is not.