The President of the United States, Donald Trump, sent this Wednesday (12) a letter to the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, to ask that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, receive a presidential pardon.
In the document, the Republican president claims that he and the prime minister have just “guaranteed the peace that has been sought for at least 3,000 years”, in reference to the ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas that was brokered by the United States and that on Monday (10) completed one month, although with exchanges of accusations of breaking the truce.
“Now that we have achieved these unprecedented successes and are keeping Hamas in check, it is time to let Bibi unite Israel by pardoning it and ending this legal war once and for all,” said Trump, who said he respected “the independence of the Israeli justice system” but that the corruption prosecution against Netanyahu would be “political and unjustified.”
According to information from The Times of Israel, Herzog’s office released a statement in which it stated that, “as the president has made clear on several occasions, anyone requesting a pardon must submit a formal request in accordance with established procedures” – which has not yet occurred in Netanyahu’s case.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid also highlighted that Israeli law “establishes that the first condition for receiving a pardon is an admission of guilt and an expression of remorse for actions [ilegais]” Netanyahu continues to maintain his innocence.
In June, Trump had already called Netanyahu’s trial a “witch hunt” and asked on social media for it to be canceled.
The Israeli prime minister is a defendant in a corruption trial that has dragged on since 2020, accused in three separate cases of tax fraud, bribery and breach of trust.
One of them concerns luxurious gifts, such as cigars and champagne, that he allegedly received between 2007 and 2016 from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli businessman, in exchange for favors related to business interests and obtaining visas.
In another case, Netanyahu is accused of having made a deal with the editor of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Arnon Mozes, who would provide favorable coverage of the prime minister and his family and negative coverage of his political opponents, in exchange for influence to pass laws to impose restrictions on a rival newspaper.
In the third case, prosecutors allege that, between 2012 and 2017, businessman Shaul Elovitch, in exchange for regulatory favors for the telecommunications group Bezeq – of which he is a majority shareholder -, allowed the Walla portal’s coverage to be tilted towards the interests of Netanyahu and his family.
