Trump’s ‘Pardon Netanyahu’ call sparks backlash in Israel
U.S. President Donald Trump’s call to pardon Benjamin Netanyahu in corruption cases has sparked a massive backlash in Israel
Tel Aviv/Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump’s call to pardon Benjamin Netanyahu in corruption cases has sparked a massive backlash in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing three different cases of graft. The Jerusalem District Court has asked him to appear before it Monday June 30, 2025.
Ahead of today’s court hearing, Trump praised Netanyahu calling him a “warrior”. Stating that the Israeli Prime Minister has done for Israel which no other leader did in the past, Trump also termed cases against him “ridiculous witch hunt”.
Trump even vowed to “save” Netanyahu the way he has “saved” Israel.
Trump’s pardon Netanyahu call however has sparked anger and controversy in Israel.
"Stay Out"
While some in Netanyahu’s Likud party supported the idea, many Israelis, including Democratic MK Gilad Kariv, emphasized the importance of the rule of law and rejected foreign interference in Israel’s judiciary.
Kariv reminded Trump that “no person is above the law, not even a prime minister,” highlighting this as a core principle of Israel’s Jewish-democratic state.
Yair Lapid, who has been the Leader of the Opposition since January 2023, is more vocal in his opposition.
“Trump should stay out of the matter as he is not supposed to intervene in the legal process of an independent state”, he said.
Some other members of the Israel’s Knesset have accused Netanyahu of using the ongoing war on Gaza to secure an end to his corruption trial.
“Netanyahu is conditioning the future of Israel and our children on his trial,” Knesset member Naama Lazimi said in a statement Sunday.
“The Israeli premier showed that he is unfit for the office by trading his indictment in exchange for a political settlement and an end to the war,” she stressed.
Jerusalem Court's Hearing Postponed
The district court in Occupied Jerusalem on Friday had rejected Netanyahu's request to postpone the hearing. Netanyahu in fact appealed two times, but the court was not ready to listen.
Two days later the court agreed to postponed the hearing.
“Following the explanations given … we partially accept the request and cancel at this stage Mr Netanyahu’s hearings scheduled for this week", the Jerusalem District Court said in its ruling, published online by Netanyahu’s Likud party.
The ruling said that new reasons provided by Netanyahu, the head of Israel’s spy agency the Mossad and the military intelligence chief justified cancelling the hearings.
Netanyahu and his wife Sara are facing charges of corruption in multiple cases. In a first case, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.
In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage from two Israeli media outlets.
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