By Grace Gilson
President Donald Trump renewed his push on Thursday, Mar. 5, for the Israeli government to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, labeling Israeli President Isaac Herzog “a disgrace” for dismissing the idea over the past year.
Trump’s latest remarks come days after the United States and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran, circumstances that the U.S. president said made Netanyahu’s ongoing trial for corruption charges a distraction.
Trump’s public demands related to Netanyahu’s corruption case have represented a rare instance of intervention by an American president in another country’s domestic affairs.
But Trump said the war made the case his business.
“Every day I talk to Bibi about the war. I want him to focus on the war and not on the f–cking court case. I want the only pressure on Bibi to be the fighting against Iran,” Trump told Axios, adding that Herzog should “give Bibi the pardon today.”
Trump, who has previously called the years-long trial a “ridiculous witch hunt” and petitioned for a pardon in a November letter to Herzog, claimed that the Israeli president had promised to grant the pardon five times over the last year.
“He told me he would give it to him. But he has held it over Bibi’s head for a year,” said Trump. “Tell him I am exposing him. That president better damn well give him the pardon right now — and stop using it as leverage for his own political career.”
A veteran politician and statesman, the Tel Aviv-born Herzog, 65, has served as Israel’s 11th president since 2021. Known by his nickname of “Bougie,” he is the son of the late Israeli President Chaim Herzog and grandson of Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Israel’s first Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Isaac Herzog’s uncle was the late Israeli statesman Abba Eban.
Herzog’s office dismissed Trump’s calls in a statement on Thursday, writing, “At a time when we are all called up to arms, Israel’s President is not dealing with the issue of a pardon. Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law, and therefore the Prime Minister’s request is currently being handled according to the established procedures at the Ministry of Justice, in order to obtain a legal opinion.”
The Israeli Justice Ministry is expected to deliver its recommendation regarding Netanyahu’s pardon in the coming days.
“After the process is completed, the president will examine the request according to the law, the good of the country, and according to his conscience, without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind,” Herzog’s office stated.
Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, who has previously criticized Trump’s interference in the case, appeared to take aim at the American leader’s remarks, writing in a post on X, “A country with national pride does not allow other countries to manage its internal affairs. Israel is not a protectorate.
“The fact that the prime minister continues to deal with his personal affairs during a war, and even enlists President Trump for it, instead of the Americans focusing solely on victory over Iran, is not only an insult to the State of Israel but also a dangerous game with Israel’s security.”
Grace Gilson wrote this article for the JTA global Jewish media source.
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