US President Donald Trump has asked Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges.
The Prime Minister has been standing trial for the past five years on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases.
Mr Trump said Mr Netanyahu has been a “formidable and decisive Wartime Prime Minister”, and that he is now “leading Israel into a time of peace”.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood tall for Israel in the face of strong adversaries and long odds, and his attention cannot be unnecessarily diverted,” Mr Trump wrote.
Mr Netanyahu, in 2020, became Israel's first sitting Prime Minister to stand trial.
In the first case against him, he has been accused of receiving gifts from businessmen in exchange for favours. In the second case, he is accused of offering to help improve the circulation of an Israeli newspaper in exchange for positive coverage. And in the third case, prosecutors say he promoted regulatory decisions to help out the controlling shareholder of a telecoms company who also controlled a news website in exchange for positive coverage.
“While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli justice system, and its requirements, I believe that this 'case' against Bibi, who has fought alongside me for a long time, including against the very tough adversary of Israel, Iran, is a political, unjustified prosecution,” the letter states.
Mr Trump has frequently claimed he was unfairly targeted by the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
In early 2024, Mr Trump was hit with a more than $400 million penalty for overstating his net worth to dupe lenders. The court has since reversed that penalty.
And in an unprecedented corruption case in New York last year, he was the first former president to be convicted in a criminal case and was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to an adult film star during the 2016 election.
He was also indicted on charges of interference in the 2020 election.
