Julian Borger
The Guardian / November 30, 2025
Request is submitted weeks after Donald Trump called on Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli prime minister.
Jerusalem – 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”.
Isaac Herzog’s office acknowledged receipt of the 111-page submission from the prime minister’s lawyer, and said it had been passed on 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.
“The office of the president is aware that this is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications,” a statement from his office said. “After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the president will responsibly and sincerely consider the request.”
Presidential pardons in Israel have almost never been granted before conviction, with the one 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 highly controversial.
The submission on Sunday comes weeks after Donald Trump wrote to Herzog to ask him to pardon Netanyahu, who has been on trial since 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, involving alleged political favours for wealthy backers in return for gifts or positive media coverage.
Netanyahu rejects the allegations, and has condemned the case as a “witch-hunt” 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, but elections are due next year.
In a short letter included in his legal filing and in a televised statement released on Sunday, Netanyahu argued it was in his personal interest to prove his innocence in court, but that it was in the interest of national unity to cut short the trial, which he claimed was “tearing us apart”.
The prime minister said in the televised statement: “As exonerating evidence that completely disproves the false claims against me is revealed in court, and as it becomes clear that the case against me was built through serious violations, my personal interest was and remains to continue this process to its end, until full acquittal on all counts.
“But the security and political reality, the national interest, demands otherwise. The ongoing trial is tearing us apart from within, fuelling fierce disagreements, and deepening divisions. I am sure, like many others, that ending the trial immediately would help lower tensions and promote the broad reconciliation our country so desperately needs.”
The demand for a pardon without a guilty plea or resignation has the potential to spark a political and constitutional crisis, which the country’s supreme court could ultimately be called on to resolve.
The single significant precedent is a case from nearly 40 years ago, in which senior Shin Bet officials were accused of covering up the execution of two Palestinian militants involved in a bus hijack. The high court of justice allowed the president at the time, Chaim Herzog – the father of the current president – to issue pre-indictment pardons in the circumstances.
However, legal scholars say it is far from clear that the 1986 case, Barzilai v government of Israel, would provide a precedent for Netanyahu’s corruption trial, especially in the absence of an admission of guilt from the prime minister.
In the Barzilai case, the officials admitted guilt and the head of the Shin Bet resigned. The absence of admission or resignation on Netanyahu’s part would make it very hard for Herzog to issue a pardon, argued Suzie Navot, a constitutional law professor at the Israeli Democracy Institute.
“This would be stopping an ongoing criminal proceeding for bribery. It has nothing to do with the [1986 Barzilai case],” Navot said. “What Netanyahu wants now is actually to be above the law.”
Civil society leaders and opposition leaders made it clear that they would fight any move to grant Netanyahu a pardon.
Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, 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.”
“Only the guilty seek pardon,” Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats party, said in a social media post. “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.”
Julian Borger is The Guardian’s senior international correspondent based in London
Quique Kierszenbaum contributed reporting for this article
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Netanyahu requests a pardon to end his ongoing corruption trial in Israel
Sam Mednick
AP / November 30, 2025
TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked the country’s president to grant him a pardon from corruption charges, seeking to end a long-running trial that has bitterly divided the nation.
Netanyahu, who has been at war against Israel’s legal system over the charges, said the request would help unify the country at a time of momentous change in the region. But it immediately triggered denunciations from opponents, who said a pardon would weaken democratic institutions and send a dangerous message that he’s above the rule of law.
Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The president’s office called it an “extraordinary request,” carrying with it “significant implications.”
Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favours with wealthy political supporters. He hasn’t been convicted of anything.
Netanyahu rejects the allegations and has described the case as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media, police and judiciary.
Trump’s request
His request comes weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly urged Israel to pardon Netanyahu, turning to President Isaac Herzog during his speech to Israel’s parliament last month. Earlier this month, Trump also sent a letter to Herzog calling the corruption case “political, unjustified prosecution.”
Herzog is a former political rival of Netanyahu, but the men have a good working relationship. Later Sunday, Israeli media reported a small protest outside Herzog’s home, including a pile of bananas with a sign saying a pardon equals a banana republic.
In a videotaped statement, Netanyahu said the trial has divided the country. He also said the requirement that he appear in court three times a week is a distraction that makes it difficult for him to lead.
“The continuation of the trial tears us apart from within, stirs up this division, and deepens rifts. I am sure, like many others in the nation, that an immediate conclusion of the trial would greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs,” he said.
Case delays
Netanyahu has taken the stand multiple times over the past year. But the case has been repeatedly delayed as he has dealt with wars and unrest stemming from the Hamas-led militant attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Netanyahu’s pardon request consisted of two documents: a detailed letter signed by his lawyer and a letter signed by Netanyahu. They’ll be sent to the Justice Ministry for opinions and will then be transferred to the legal adviser at the president’s office, which will formulate additional opinions for the president.
Legal experts say the pardon request isn’t able to stop the trial.
“It’s impossible,” said Emi Palmor, former director-general of the Justice Ministry.
“You cannot claim that you’re innocent while the trial is going on and come to the president and ask him to intervene,” she said. The only way to stop the trial is to ask the attorney general to withhold the proceedings, she said.
In rare cases, the system could pardon Netanyahu. Experts say the president has broad discretion to grant one, and oversight is limited.
However, “as a rule, the president reviews a pardon request only after all legal proceedings have ended. The possibility of a pre-conviction pardon … is extremely rare,” the Israel Democracy Institute wrote earlier this month. “A pardon before conviction, while legal proceedings are ongoing, threatens the rule of law and seriously undermines the principle of equality before the law.”
Netanyahu portrays himself as victim
In 2008, as opposition leader, Netanyahu called on then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down as he faced a growing corruption scandal. At the time, Netanyahu said that a prime minister “up to his neck” in scandal did not have a mandate to lead the country, and there was a risk that Olmert would make decisions that served his personal interests and not those of the nation.
Olmert resigned even before he was indicted that year and would later serve 16 months in prison.
Netanyahu has struck a different, defiant tone since his own legal problems began. He has portrayed himself as the victim of a “deep state” conspiracy trying to oust him from office.
Shortly after forming his current government in late 2022, Netanyahu launched a plan to overhaul Israel’s justice system.
Netanyahu presented the plan as a much-needed reform. But his opponents accused him of trying to weaken the justice system, damaging the country’s system of checks and balances and having a conflict of interest at a time when he was on trial.
The plan triggered large street protests against the government, and critics have said the deep divisions sent a message of weakness to Israel’s enemies that encouraged Hamas to launch its 2023 attacks.
Netanyahu’s request also sparked backlash on Sunday, with an immediate response from the opposition and advocacy groups urging the president not to give in to his request.
“You cannot grant him a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate retirement from political life,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said that granting a pardon to a prime minister accused of serious offenses of fraud and breach of trust would send a clear message that there are citizens who are above the law.
But some Israelis expressed support for Netanyahu’s request.
“Bibi Netanyahu did totally the right thing requesting the pardon,” said Lior Gal, a Jerusalem resident, referring to the prime minister by his nickname. “He deserves to be pardoned. This chapter should be over and to remain united people and carry on.”
Sam Mednick is an AP correspondent for Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Josef Federman contributed to this report from Jerusalem
