Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently on trial for a series of corruption charges, announced on Sunday that he has formally submitted a request for a pardon to President Isaac Herzog, claiming the protracted legal proceedings are severely damaging the country’s unity.
In a video statement, the Prime Minister asserted that the continuation of his nearly six-year-long trial was “tearing us apart from within, arousing fierce divisions, intensifying rifts.” He argued that while he wished to see the process through to an acquittal, the “security and political reality the national interest dictate otherwise,” and called the requirement to testify three times a week an “impossible” demand.
Netanyahu submitted a 111-page letter from his lawyers to President Herzog, but notably, the request was made without an admission of guilt for the charges he faces.
President Herzog’s office confirmed receiving the request, stating it is an “extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications.” The President’s office added that the request would be “responsibly and sincerely consider[ed]” after all relevant legal opinions are gathered.
The move comes weeks after President Donald Trump reportedly wrote to Herzog urging him to pardon the Israeli leader.
The Prime Minister is accused in multiple cases, including accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury gifts such as cigars, champagne, and jewellery from billionaires in exchange for political favours. He also faces charges related to attempts to negotiate more favorable media coverage from two prominent Israeli news outlets.
The request has immediately intensified the political and social divide in Israel.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid insisted that any pardon must be conditional on Netanyahu’s “admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate withdrawal from political life.” Yair Golan, head of the left-wing party The Democrats, was more direct, stating, “Only the guilty seek pardon.” Dozens of protesters gathered outside President Herzog’s home, urging him to reject the plea and protect the country’s rule of law.
Conversely, senior ministers in Netanyahu’s government strongly backed the move. Defence Minister Israel Katz stated that a pardon would help end the “deep rift that has accompanied Israeli society for nearly a decade.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed the trials as politically motivated, asserting that Netanyahu had “been persecuted for years by a corrupt judicial system that fabricated political cases against him.”
Legal experts have noted that under Israeli law, a pardon is typically reserved for convicted criminals, creating a significant potential challenge for the Prime Minister’s unprecedented request. The President’s decision is expected to take weeks and may face further legal challenges in the Supreme Court should a pardon be granted.
