Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump for his statement calling for the prime minister's trial to be canceled immediately in a post on X/Twitter Thursday, adding that they will continue collaborating to defeat common enemies, free hostages, and "quickly expand the circle of peace."
Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar said that the trial is "perhaps the worst thing that has happened to Israel in recent years" in an interview with Army Radio. Zohar later said on X that his words were taken out of context.
"I insist that Netanyahu's trial is bad for Israel and has seriously damaged the unity between us. You will not succeed in taking my words to turn me into someone who, God forbid, belittles the events of October 7, and the public will not buy it."
"It's time to put an end to the unimaginable injustice and personal persecution against him – and cancel this baseless trial immediately," Zohar said in a post on X, calling Netanyahu one of Israel's greatest leaders in its history.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Trump is "absolutely right - it's time to abolish the absurd sentence that the deep state concocted in an attempt to stage a coup against democracy," adding that a reform on the Israeli judiciary is urgently needed.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi shared Trump’s post on X, and wrote, “This performative display has long cost us the security of the state. Every word!"
Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman (RZP) Simcha Rothman wrote that while it is not Trump’s position to intervene in Israel’s internal affairs, he called on President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu. “It is clear that Trump is right. Managing Netanyahu's cases turns Israel's image from a regional and global power into a banana republic."
Opposition leader and Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid told Ynet that he agreed with Rothman that Trump should not interfere in Israel’s legal affairs. “I assume this is compensation he's (Trump) giving him (Netanyahu) because he's going to pressure him on the Gaza issue. To end the war."
“Never, ever, can we ignore the disgraceful injustices, the trampling over of every legal standard, every procedure, every law, every budgetary logic, every moral benchmark, Women's Advancement Minister, Social Equality Minister May Golan said in a post on X of Netanyahu’s trial.
“We can no longer turn a blind eye to the humiliation, the disgrace, the tar and feathers you are throwing on our dear prime minister, @netanyahu, over one wrong – he succeeds where the Israeli left has failed. He is a leader, brave, a patriot, who was democratically elected time and time again. So you decided to bring him down at any cost. But even this house of cards is collapsing," Golan concluded.
A 'Bugs Bunny trial'
Likud MK Ofir Katz said that the "Bugs Bunny trial is completely disconnected from reality."
"When will they realize that Netanyahu is unbreakable? This political persecution must stop, and the State of Israel must be allowed to succeed and prosper," Katz added.
Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, in a message to Trump, said that “Jewish tradition teaches us that no person is above the law. Not even a prime minister. We have instilled this important principle in the laws of our Jewish-democratic state. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting the State of Israel and our security. Please continue to assist us in bringing back the hostages and ending the war in Gaza.”