Israeli President Isaac Herzog received a letter on Wednesday from US President Donald Trump, in which he called for consideration of granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s letter stated, “Pardoning Netanyahu will be an important step to unite Israel after difficult years.” Trump stressed in the letter that Netanyahu “steadfastly defended Israel in the face of powerful opponents, and that the case against him is political and unjustified.”
The US President continued in the letter, saying, “Now that Hamas has been controlled and unprecedented achievements have been achieved, it is time to end this legal war and give Netanyahu a chance to pardon.”
Trump had called on the Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu in his speech before the Knesset last month, on the day the 20 hostages were released alive.
He told Herzog, who seemed surprised by the direct appeal: “I have an idea, Mr. President, why don’t you pardon him?”
Herzog responds
In response to Trump’s message, the Israeli president said, “Whoever wants to be pardoned must submit an official request, as is the practice in Israel.”
For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on the “X” platform that “Israeli law stipulates that the first condition for granting a pardon is an admission of guilt and an expression of remorse for the actions.”
On the other hand, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir called on President Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, saying in a tweet on the same platform: “We tell President Herzog to listen to Trump, and issue a pardon to Netanyahu in the fabricated cases, because that is the correct procedure.”
