Israel’s president lashes out at Netanyahu over Trump’s pardon demand – report

Herzog reportedly furious over public criticism by the US president over Netanyahu pardon, demands to know if the prime minister coordinated with Trump.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was outraged after President Donald Trump publicly criticized him for not yet granting a presidential pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has demanded the Prime Minister’s Office reveal whether it coordinated with the American president regarding his comments, multiple Israeli media outlets have reported.

On Saturday night, Israel’s Channel 12 and Israel Hayom cited sources in the president’s office who said that Herzog was infuriated by Trump’s comments on Wednesday, made to reporters during his meeting with Netanyahu in Washington, D.C.”

“You have a president that refused to give him a pardon,” Trump said. “[He] should be ashamed of himself.”

The incident raised suspicions in Herzog’s office that Netanyahu was involved in the decision to publicly pressure the Israeli president to issue a pardon, or at the very least was aware of Trump’s intentions to do so.

“If Netanyahu had a hand in this, it would constitute crossing a red line. We expect clarifications from Netanyahu,” sources close to President Herzog were quoted as saying.

Herzog responded to Trump’s criticism by stating that “Israel is a sovereign state.”

On Friday, Trump spoke out on the issue again, saying that he believes Netanyahu will ultimately be pardoned.

“I do think so, yes,” the president told reporters.

The Prime Minister’s Office responded to Herzog’s demand, issuing a statement denying any involvement in or foreknowledge of Trump’s comments.

“President Trump’s statement… regarding the pardon was solely his own decision. The prime minister learned about it through the media and did not know about it in advance, just as he did not know in advance about the president’s statement on this matter in his speech in the Knesset.”

President Trump has repeatedly urged Herzog to issue a pardon after publicly denouncing Netanyahu’s trial last year.

In October, during a visit to the Knesset, Trump called on Herzog to grant a pardon. He later penned a letter requesting his Israeli counterpart grant a pardon.

Herzog responded that he is only permitted to grant requests made by those seeking the pardon.

After Netanyahu formally filed a request last November, Herzog said he would reserve judgment until the pardon request was assessed by the Justice Ministry.

By law, the president is empowered to grant or deny pardon requests without any review process by the Justice Ministry or other body.

However, Israeli presidents have traditionally relied both on the Justice Ministry and the president’s office’s legal counsel to provide recommendations on whether to grant pardons.