Netanyahu’s Mid-Trial Pardon Bid Sparks Constitutional Crisis in Israel

JERUSALEM:  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally submitted an “extraordinary request” to President Isaac Herzog for a pardon in the three corruption cases he has been battling for the past five years.

Netanyahu, the only sitting Israeli Prime Minister in history to stand trial, has consistently denied the charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. His request seeks to halt the criminal proceedings before a verdict is reached.

In a video message released Sunday, the Prime Minister insisted that while his personal interest was to see the trial through to acquittal, the “national interest demanded otherwise,” claiming the trial was “tearing Israel apart from within” and distracting him from critical security matters.

The request has plunged Israel into a fresh constitutional debate. While Israel’s Basic Law grants the President power to pardon criminals, and the High Court of Justice has allowed pardons before conviction in rare cases, a pre-emptive pardon for a politician in an ongoing corruption trial without an admission of guilt would be a historic and controversial precedent.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid insisted there could be no pardon without an “admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate retirement from political life.”

Left-wing politician Yair Golan stated plainly that “only the guilty” sought a pardon.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of conflating his personal legal interests with those of the state, arguing that granting clemency would severely weaken Israel’s judiciary, already under scrutiny after previous judicial reform proposals sparked massive street protests.

President Herzog’s office has passed the request, which includes a personal letter from Netanyahu, to the Justice Ministry for legal opinions before a decision is reached.Netanyahu’s trial, which began in 2020, covers three separate allegations:

Allegations of receiving gifts, primarily cigars and champagne, from powerful businessmen in exchange for political favors.

Allegations of offering to help improve the circulation of an Israeli newspaper in exchange for positive media coverage.

Allegations of promoting regulatory decisions favorable to a telecommunications company’s controlling shareholder in exchange for positive coverage by a news website.

The pardon request comes weeks after former US President Donald Trump publicly urged Herzog to “fully pardon” Netanyahu.