Netanyahu asked President Herzog for a pardon. Trump also appealed to him

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked President Yitzhak Herzog for a pardon, the president's office announced on Sunday. US President Donald Trump had also asked for a pardon for the Israeli head of government in a letter in November.

According to the Times of Israel, the request includes a 111-page document from Netanyahu's lawyer Amit Haddad and a letter signed by the prime minister himself. "This would be a major contribution to much-needed national reconciliation," the prime minister said Sunday, asking for an immediate end to the process.

Herzog's office said the submission had been handed over to the legal department of the presidential residence and would then be reviewed by the Justice Ministry's clemency division. It will obtain the opinions of all concerned authorities and send recommendations to the president's legal advisers.

"This is an extraordinary request with significant implications," the presidential office said, adding that the president will "responsibly and sincerely consider it." Israel's president can grant pardons to convicts, in exceptional cases even before the trial is completed, if it is in the public interest to do so.

Netanyahu faces one bribery charge and three corruption cases, which he dismisses as politically motivated. The trial, which began in 2020, is far from over, according to TOI. The prime minister said this month that he would not seek clemency if it meant he had to plead guilty.

Trump had sought a pardon for Netanyahu in October during a speech in the Israeli parliament and reiterated his stance in a letter to Herzog in November. The Israeli president admitted in a September interview that he might consider a pardon as the case "weighs on Israeli society."

(reuters, sky news, times of israel, sab)