TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked the country’s president to grant him a pardon from corruption charges — seeking to end a long-running trial that has bitterly divided the nation.
Netanyahu, who has been at war against the country’s legal system over the charges, said the request would help unify the country at a time of momentous changes in the region. But it immediately triggered denunciations from his opponents, who said it would weaken Israel’s democratic institutions and send a dangerous message that he is above the rule of law.
In a statement Sunday the prime minister’s office said that Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President. The president’s office called it an “extraordinary request,” carrying with it “significant implications.”
Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters. He has not yet been convicted of anything.
Netanyahu rejects the allegations, and has condemned the case as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media, police and judiciary.
The request comes weeks after US President Donald Trump urged Israel to pardon Netanyahu. Earlier this month Trump also sent a letter to President Isaac Herzog calling the corruption case “political, unjustified prosecution.”
In a videotaped statement, Netanyahu said the trial has divided the country and that a pardon would help restore national unity. He also said the requirement that he appear in court three times a week is a distraction that makes it difficult for him to lead the country.
“The continuation of the trial tears us apart from within, stirs up this division, and deepens rifts. I am sure, like many others in the nation, that an immediate conclusion of the trial would greatly help to lower the flames and promote the broad reconciliation that our country so desperately needs,” he said.
