Netanyahu submits pardon request in Israel corruption cases

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial for corruption charges has been ongoing for nearly six years. [AFP] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on trial facing corruption charges, announced Sunday he had submitted a pardon request, saying the long-running cases were tearing the country apart. US President Donald Trump wrote to Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier this month, asking him to pardon Netanyahu, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the ongoing court cases. "The trial in my case has been ongoing for nearly six years, and is expected to continue for many more years," Netanyahu said in a video statement. He said he wanted to see through the process until acquittal, "but the security and political reality -- the national interest -- dictate otherwise. The State of Israel is facing enormous challenges". "The continuation of the trial is tearing us apart from within, arousing fierce divisions, intensifying rifts," he added. The cases against Netanyahu have exposed divisions in Israeli society between his supporters and opponents. Netanyahu's backers have dismissed the trials as politically motivated. The premier and his wife Sara are accused in one case of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewellery and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favours. He is also accused of attempting to negotiate more favourable coverage from two Israeli media outlets in two other cases. Netanyahu said the demand for him to testify on a thrice-weekly basis had "tipped the scales". "Three times a week is an impossible requirement," he said. "I am certain, like many others in the nation, that an immediate end to the trial will greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs." Herzog's office confirmed it had received Netanyahu's pardon request. "This is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications. After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the president will responsibly and sincerely consider the request," the head of state's office said in a statement. In September, Herzog indicated that he could grant Netanyahu a pardon, saying in an interview that the prime minister's case "weighs heavily on Israeli society". Netanyahu, 76, is Israel's longest-serving premier, having spent more than 18 years in the post across three spells since 1996. During his current term, which started in late 2022, Netanyahu proposed far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say sought to weaken the courts. Those prompted massive protests that were only curtailed after the onset of the Gaza war in October 2023. Likud leader Netanyahu has said he will stand in the next elections, due to be held before the end of 2026. Opposition leaders lambasted Netanyahu for requesting a pardon without admitting guilt in the graft trials, and urged him to step down from political life in return for a pardon. "I call on President Herzog: You cannot grant Netanyahu a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate withdrawal from political life," opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a video on X. Yair Golan, head of the left-wing opposition party The Democrats, echoed the allegation. "Only the guilty seek pardon," he wrote on X. "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 in the nation." Conversely, several members of the governing coalition backed Netanyahu's request. Defence Minister Israel Katz urged Herzog to grant the pardon to end the "deep rift that has accompanied Israeli society for nearly a decade, and to allow the country to reunite". Following media speculation that Netanyahu may walk back some controversial judicial reforms in exchange for an end to his trials, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, wrote on X: "The commitment of Religious Zionism to reform in the judicial system will continue in a substantive manner, regardless of Netanyahu's pardon." "It is clear to every reasonable person that Netanyahu has been persecuted for years by a corrupt judicial system that fabricated political cases against him," Smotrich added.

Netanyahu submits pardon request in Israel corruption cases

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