Name: Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu seeks pardon over bribery and fraud charges | BBC News
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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a formal pardon from the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, over corruption charges.

Netanyahu, who has been on trial since 2020, maintained his innocence, but

said judicial proceedings were damaging to the country and hampering his ability to govern.

Opposition parties said the Prime Minister should not be pardoned unless he admitted guilt.

And Left Politics correspondent James Cook reports from Jerusalem.

For five years, Benjamin Netanyahu has battled charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

He's battled, too, for his political survival.

Now, while maintaining his innocence, he wants a pardon, insisting the cases against him are tearing the nation apart.

Israel, he said, faced great challenges and great opportunities.

And in order to fend off the threats and seize the opportunities, the national unity was required.

The Prime Minister's stewardship of Israel before the Hamas led attacks on October 7, 2023, and

his conduct of the war in Gaza since have both been highly controversial.

I think that if he would resign, I would be happy to grant him reconciliation.

My son was killed on October 7th on kibbutz, and

I think that he should take responsibility for that.

I think basically it was a minor infraction and it really won't help the country except for people who hate Netanyahu.

So I would hope Herzog will agree and that we can get done with all this.

To ask for a pardon without admitting any guilt, without losing any position, without it affecting his life whatsoever, other than that he gets off scot free, I certainly don't think that he should get it.

Mr. President, why don't you give him a pardon?

Benjamin Netanyahu does have at least one very powerful backer.

The Israeli President's office have described this formal request for a pardon from the Prime Minister as an extraordinary step with significant implications and have promised to consider it responsibly and and sincerely.

But Isaac Herzog is now under intense pressure from allies and opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu.

That was clear outside the President's home tonight.

The Prime Minister's opponents say a pardon would require an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse, and

his immediate retirement from political life.

An unconditional reprieve for Benjamin Netanyahu, say his critics, could provoke a constitutional crisis.