Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally requested that President Isaac Herzog grant him a pardon related to the long investigation into the prime minister’s alleged misconduct.
The president has agreed to review the request and make a decision in the coming weeks.
I believe it would be in Israel’s best interests for him to grant the request on the condition that Netanyahu agrees to finish out his present term and retire from politics.
This would be a good thing for Israel and allow new leadership to surface and lead the country into its much-needed post-war recovery and healing.
Truth be told, Netanyahu has served this country well in his cumulative 18 years as prime minister. The problem is that he has been in that post for 18 years, which is probably 10 years too much for any one person to hold the reins of power and still have the country be considered a democracy.
Netanyahu has led us successfully through a number of wars and difficult times. He can easily be credited for saving our economy during the world economic downturn of 2008, for representing us well on the world stage, and, lest we forget, for his earlier service in the IDF and as ambassador to the United Nations.
Nevertheless, polls show that about 70% of the country believes it is time for new leadership.
Some people believe that way because they disagree with how he has handled the war in Gaza; others believe he is more concerned about staying in power than doing what’s best for the country, while others simply feel that after 18 years it is just time to move on and make room for someone else.
Although he deserves praise for his accomplishments, there have been failures as well. He can say whatever he wants about who is responsible for our unpreparedness on October 7, but in Harry Truman’s parlance: “The buck stops here,” and Netanyahu was the prime minister at the time.
Therefore, ultimate responsibility is his to bear whether or not he wants to own up to it.
Time for conditional pardon and leadership change
Further, his continued objection to authorizing a formal state commission of inquiry regarding the events of October 7 under the guise that doing so during wartime is not appropriate loses strength now that he is in favor of an inquiry appointed by the Knesset rather than the Supreme Court even though we are still at war.
Yes, his trial on the misconduct charges has, inexcusably, gone on for far too long. However, the legal specialists who represent the interests of the state clearly believe they have a case, or else they would have abandoned the prosecution long ago.
You can bet that the prime minister is not the only one who does not want to be in court three times a week on this issue.
Finally, his remarks this week, that it is important for him to be relieved of the charges so that he and President Donald Trump can, together, continue the work to complete the job in Gaza are as close to fiction as reality ever gets.
Trump will try to do what he wants with or without Bibi as prime minister, and his earlier inappropriate suggestion to Herzog during Trump’s Knesset address was just him trying to bully yet another national leader as he does with so many countries in the world, more often than not unsuccessfully.
In addition, this week’s remarks by the prime minister – that he will not admit guilt to receive a pardon – totally begs the question: If there is no guilt, there is no reason to request a pardon, and in that case, the court would simply decide innocence.
Nevertheless, it would be in the best interests of the country to close the Bibi chapter of our history by granting the pardon if, and only if, he agrees not to run for public office after his current term runs out in October of next year.
Doing so would be applauded by the great majority of Israelis; it would create an opportunity for new and, hopefully younger leadership to take over, and Netanyahu’s legacy as a successful and sensible leader of Israel would be assured.
The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” Bibi should internalize this, and Herzog should make the conditional offer. We will all be better for the change.
The writer, an international business development consultant, is a former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and the current chair of the Executive Committee of Congregation Ohel Nechama in Jerusalem.