Netanyahu submits request to Israeli president to pardon him
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a long-running corruption trial, has submitted an official request to the country’s president to pardon him.
In a video statement, Mr Netanyahu, who is the only sitting PM in Israeli history to stand trial, said the case had divided the country and a pardon would help restore national unity.
He also said the requirement to appear in court three times a week is a distraction that makes it difficult for him to lead.
President Isaac Herzog’s office said it was “an extraordinary request” which carries “significant implications”.
The president will “responsibly and sincerely consider the request” after consulting with “relevant authorities” in the justice ministry and legal departments, his office said.
It comes after Donald Trump sent a letter to Mr Herzog urging him to “fully pardon” Mr Netanyahu earlier this month.
The US president told Mr Herzog his prime minister had “stood tall for Israel in the face of strong adversaries” and Mr Netanyahu’s “attention cannot be unnecessarily diverted”.
Mr Netanyahu’s trial, which began in 2020, has not yet concluded. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include bribery and fraud.
He was indicted in 2019 in three cases, including allegations of receiving nearly 700,000 shekels (£166,500) in gifts from business representatives.
The prime minister’s request consists of two documents over 111 pages, the president’s office said – a letter signed by Mr Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, as well as a letter signed by Mr Netanyahu himself.
They say a pardon can be issued even before conviction and argue the ongoing trial is preventing Mr Netanyahu from fully performing his duties as prime minister, particularly on critical security and diplomatic issues.
The documents claim the investigation and prosecution of Mr Netanyahu suffered from irregularities, including pressure on witnesses and an effort to target the prime minister.
His long record of service and leadership is also highlighted.
How can you pardon someone who has not been convicted?
This is a truly unprecedented situation – an Israeli prime minister, in the midst of a trial that has already been going on for years, requesting a pardon even though he hasn’t been convicted.
And he is doing so with the backing of the American president, whose goodwill – by contrast to growing international condemnation – now sits at the heart of Israeli government policy.
Benjamin Netanyahu insists he will be exonerated, even if the trial does come to a conclusion. His argument, framed across 111 pages, is that the trial is such a distraction that it is damaging the national interest and affecting his ability to govern.
He also claims that the investigation was fuelled by the malicious intent to incriminate him “at all costs”, despite his decades of public service.
But there will be others who argue the absolute reverse – that the whole structure of justice depends on holding people to account, however powerful they may be.
How, the question will be asked, can you pardon someone who has not been convicted? What sort of a precedent would this set?
We know Donald Trump wants Netanyahu pardoned, and has said so publicly, which leaves President Isaac Herzog in an incredibly difficult spot.
He will want to show his independence, and certainly his advisers are not necessarily Netanyahu supporters. As the president, he is expected to rise above the fray of party politics and make his own decision.
But will he really want to go against Trump – the will of the most powerful man in the world, who has offered such crucial diplomatic support to Israel since returning to office?
And with a general election scheduled for less than a year’s time, how quickly will he come to his conclusion?
PM says trial ‘deepens rifts’
In his video statement, Mr Netanyahu said: “The continuation of the trial tears us apart from within, stirs up this division and deepens rifts.
“I am sure, like many others in the nation, that an immediate conclusion of the trial would greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs.”
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Emi Palmor, former director general of Israel’s justice ministry, said it was not possible for the trial to be stopped by the pardon request.
“You cannot claim that you’re innocent while the trial is going on and come to the president and ask him to intervene,” she said.
The only way to stop the trial is to ask the attorney general to withhold the proceedings, she added.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged the president not to give in to the request.
“You cannot grant him a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate retirement from political life,” he said.
