Israeli Cabinet Member Claims: Trump Will Sanction Israeli Judges If Netanyahu Is Not Pardoned.
A Likud minister has claimed that if Prime Minister Netanyahu’s request for clemency in his corruption case is rejected, the US president may sanction Israeli officials!
According to the Jewish Chronicle, the office of Prime Minister Isaac Herzog confirmed on Sunday that it had received the “extraordinary request” for clemency and would review it “responsibly and honestly.”
In a video statement released shortly after Herzog’s announcement, Netanyahu said that “it has been and is in my personal interest to see the trial through to the end and to complete acquittal of all charges.”
But the Israeli prime minister added: “The security and diplomatic reality and the national interest demand something else. The State of Israel faces enormous challenges, but also great opportunities.”
Netanyahu stated: “National unity is essential to ward off threats and seize those opportunities.”
Netanyahu claimed that an immediate halt to the thrice-weekly court sessions would “greatly help reduce tensions and advance the broad reconciliation that the regime so desperately needs.”
The request came after the release of a letter from US President Donald Trump to Herzog requesting such a pardon for Netanyahu.
The letter read: “I hereby ask that you fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a strong and decisive Prime Minister during the war.”
Trump went on to claim: “He is now leading Israel into an era of peace that includes my continued efforts with key Middle East leaders to add many more countries to the transformative Brahimi Accords.”
Isaac, we have a great relationship, one that I am very grateful for and proud of… It is time to unite Israel by pardoning Bibi (Netanyahu’s nickname) and end that judicial war once and for all.”
While stressing “absolute respect for the independence of the Israeli judicial system,” Trump called the charges against Netanyahu “politically motivated and unjustified.”
After confirming that the prime minister’s request was being considered, Environmental Protection Minister Edith Silman from Netanyahu’s Likud party told i24 News: “President Trump, I think, made it very clear and made his point and sent a letter… and I think now President Herzog has to go beyond the situation and make a decision in the best interest of Israel’s security.”
Interestingly, the Likud minister even claims that Trump understands Israel’s interests better than the regime’s president:
“And if President Herzog doesn’t know how to act in the interests of Israel and the nation, for brotherhood and unity, I think yes, President Trump may take additional measures and be forced to intervene.”
In response to a request for further clarification, he said that these measures “may include sanctions and other things against senior officials in the judiciary.”
However, Netanyahu’s own former lawyer, Mika Fatman, has claimed that a pardon can only be granted if Netanyahu admits his guilt and shows signs of remorse — something the regime’s prime minister has specifically refused to do.
“A pardon is given to a criminal,” Fatman told Channel 12.
This view was echoed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, who claimed that a pardon could only be on the agenda if Netanyahu pleads guilty and steps down from politics.
Herzog is scheduled to travel to New York this week to attend events at Yeshiva University and the American Zionist movement, although no meeting with Trump is on his agenda.