The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, announced this Monday that he will evaluate “only the interests of the State of Israel and Israeli society” when analyzing the pardon request presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Clearly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request is generating a debate and is deeply unsettling for many people in the country, in different communities,” said Herzog, in an official message released by his spokesperson on official channels.
He added: “I have already made it clear that it will be handled in the most correct and precise way. I will only consider the interests of the State of Israel and Israeli society.”
The Prime Minister sent a request for pardon to the President on Sunday, in the trial in which he faces three charges of corruption, fraud, breach of trust and bribery, the head of Government’s office confirmed in a statement.
According to what was reported on Israeli pro-democracy channels, dozens of protesters gathered this Sunday in front of the President’s private residence in Tel Aviv to protest against the possibility of granting a pardon to Netanyahu.
“One thing is clear: violent speech does not affect me, quite the opposite”, warned the President, in reference to the protests.
In early November, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, appealed to Herzog, in a letter, to pardon the Israeli leader, defending his role in managing the country.
During his visit in October, Trump asked for amnesty in the Israeli Parliament: “Why don’t they grant him a pardon?”, questioning “who cares about cigarettes and champagne”.
Netanyahu is on trial for the so-called “case 1000”, accused of having received gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan in exchange for political favors; and for the “2000 case”, in which he allegedly benefited the editor-in-chief and co-owner of the media outlet Yedioth Ahronoth, Arnon “Noni” Mozes, in a fraud and abuse of trust scandal to harm the competing newspaper “Israel Hayom”.
Furthermore, he is also being tried for, in his second term as Minister of Communication (2015-2017), having allegedly committed a crime of bribing businessman Shaul Elovich, who controlled the telecommunications company Bezeq and the website Walla News, to obtain favorable media coverage.
The Israeli leader, who claims that the trials against him are a “witch hunt” and a “deep state” conspiracy, is the first head of government in Israel’s history to be prosecuted while in office.
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