Photo credit: The Guardian
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a pardon for bribery and fraud charges and an end to a five-year corruption trial, arguing that it would be in the “national interest.”
The Guardian reports that Isaac Herzog’s office acknowledged receipt of the 111-page submission from the prime minister’s lawyer, and said it had been passed to the pardons department in the ministry of justice. The president’s legal adviser would also formulate an opinion before Herzog made a decision, it added.
Presidential pardons in Israel have almost never been granted before conviction, with the notable exception of a 1986 case involving the Shin Bet security service. A pre-emptive pardon of a politician in a corruption case without an admission of guilt would be precedent-setting and lightly controversial.
Netanyahu has been on trial since 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust involving alleged political favours from wealthy backers in return for gifts or positive media coverage.He rejected the allegations, and has condemned the case as a “witchhunt” orchestrated by the media, police and judiciary. His critics have accused him of prolonging the war in Gaza to keep his coalition together so he can stay in office and keep his legal jeopardy at bay. However, elections are due next year.
Civil society leaders and opposition leaders made it clear that they would fight any move to grant Netanyahu a pardon.
The leader of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid sent a message to Herzog on social media, saying: “You cannot grant Netanyahu a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse, and an immediate withdrawal from political life.”
The leader of the Democrats party Yair Golan said, “The only exchange deal on the table is that Netanyahu will take responsibility, admit guilt, leave politics, and free the people and the state – only then will unity be achieved among the people.”
