Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has officially asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon regarding his corruption trial. This is a major test for Israeli democracy, under attack from the government for nearly three years. For his supporters, Netanyahu is the “king of Israel,” but he is, above all, the king of chutzpah.
One must indeed be incredibly audacious to request a pardon without even acknowledging guilt and without committing to leave public life. In other words, the prime minister is simply asking not to be tried, claiming that a trial would take too much of his time when he must run the country. This is precisely the argument he used to demand the resignation of one of his predecessors, Ehud Olmert, who was indicted for corruption and resigned even before his trial began.
When Netanyahu eventually leaves public life, his main legacy will have been to divide Israeli society like never before, with incessant attacks against his opponents and a devilish skill in pitting segments of society against one another to stay in power. This does not prevent the king of chutzpah from justifying his request for a presidential pardon to the Israeli public by invoking his concern for the unity of the country, a unity he claims is endangered today because of his trial.
Damaging bipartisan US support
Beyond national unity, Netanyahu has also damaged the bipartisan American support for Israel by favoring an alliance with the Republicans at the expense of the balanced approach adopted by all of his predecessors. With US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu even pushed flattery to its limits, enabling him to ask Trump to intervene on his behalf and to urge President Herzog – twice – to pardon his “friend Bibi.”
This American interference in Israel’s internal affairs is all the more scandalous as it is orchestrated by Netanyahu himself, willing to weaken US support for Israel for his personal benefit. Trump indeed claimed that halting the proceedings would benefit the US-Israel alliance, just as he conditioned financial guarantees to Argentina on the victory of Milei’s party in the recent legislative elections, a mafia-boss approach in both cases.
This American interference, again mentioned by Netanyahu in his national address to justify his request for a pardon, places before President Herzog a dilemma: Denying the pardon would offend Trump and endanger American support; granting it would destroy the very idea of an independent judiciary in Israel.
Last line of defense
Netanyahu’s chutzpah would be almost comical were it not such a clear expression of his deep contempt for his country’s democratic institutions. In many ways, it is the final blow in the campaign of erosion undertaken by his government since his return to power in December 2022, with the judicial reform announced in January 2023, whose aim was to dismantle all checks and balances in Israel.
President Herzog is indeed today the last line of defense of an Israeli democracy shaken for the past three years by Netanyahu, who has consistently placed his personal interests above those of his country.
Born and raised in France, the writer is the correspondent of French Jewish radio, Radio J, in the US, where he has been living for 15 years. He also holds US and Israeli citizenship. His opinions are his own.