On December 12, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the extraordinary step of formally requesting a presidential pardon from Isaac Herzog, Israel’s head of state, in a move that has sent shockwaves through Israeli politics and society. The request, which aims to cancel Netanyahu’s ongoing trial on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust, comes at a time of mounting tension between the country’s political leadership, its judicial system, and a deeply divided public.
The pardon request did not emerge in a vacuum. According to Haaretz, the weeks leading up to Netanyahu’s appeal saw the governing coalition orchestrate a legislative blitz, widely perceived as an attempt to pressure President Herzog and the judiciary. Observers note that this legislative push, combined with Netanyahu’s direct plea, represents more than just a political diversion—it’s a full-court press to secure the prime minister’s legal survival.
The public’s response has been anything but muted. Just days before the official pardon request, President Herzog appeared at the American Zionist Movement (AZM) Biennial National Assembly in New York City. As reported by Jewish News, Herzog was confronted by hecklers demanding that he immediately and unconditionally pardon Netanyahu. One delegate implored, “Israel needs unity now, not vengeance. I’m calling on you to issue an immediate, unconditional pardon of Prime Minister Netanyahu.” The plea was met with an eruption of shouting, with some audience members calling “shame” in Hebrew and waving signs that read “Please, Pardon Netanyahu!” Herzog, however, sidestepped the controversy, responding, “We made it very clear that we should focus on the challenges of the Zionist movement in America,” before moving on to other questions.
The prime minister’s legal woes are hardly new. Netanyahu’s trial, initiated in 2020, has been marked by repeated delays and intense public scrutiny. As of December 2025, he faces three separate cases involving serious allegations of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust. The gravity of these charges has polarized the Israeli public and drawn in international actors: former U.S. President Donald Trump, for example, not only demanded a pardon for Netanyahu at a Knesset meeting on October 13, but also sent a formal letter to that effect on November 12, as noted by Informed Comment.
Trump’s intervention is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Netanyahu’s request to Herzog seeks to circumvent the Israeli Court of Appeals, a move that has alarmed legal experts and former officials alike. Reuven Rivlin, who served as Israel’s president from 2014 to 2021, offered a pointed reminder back in 2017: “The president is not a court of appeals. In any event, Bibi claims he’s the victim of a blood libel, that he was framed. Who should decide if that’s true, if not the court? I want to know whether these things are indeed true. Because if they are, those who accused him falsely must be brought to justice.”
The pressure on Herzog has come from both sides of the political spectrum. On December 7, a coalition of 25 American and Israeli progressive Zionist groups, including J Street and New York Jewish Agenda, delivered a letter urging Herzog to reject Netanyahu’s pardon request. The letter, organized by the Israeli expat group UnXeptable, declared, “Mr. President, a clear refusal now would be a brave and necessary act – in defense of Israel’s democracy, in honor of our Jewish moral tradition, and for the sake of all citizens of the State of Israel and the Jewish people who care so deeply about its future.”
Public opinion is sharply divided. A survey published by the Israel Democracy Institute on December 10 revealed that 50% of Israelis oppose granting Netanyahu a pardon, while 41% support it. The split is even more pronounced along communal lines, with 43% of Jewish Israelis favoring a pardon compared to just 30% of Arab Israelis.
Behind the scenes, Netanyahu is accused of orchestrating a sweeping campaign to shore up his position. According to Informed Comment, he has been “purging the Israeli military and Justice Department in order to bring in his own people, who are friendly to his quest for a pardon.” Defense Minister Israel Katz has reportedly manipulated conflicts with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to weaken military appointment authority, all in an effort to ensure Netanyahu’s allies occupy key posts. Meanwhile, Netanyahu demanded a formal inquiry into the investigation of the security lapses leading up to the October 7, 2025, incident—a move critics say is designed to deflect blame from his own inaction.
Netanyahu’s maneuvers are not limited to the legal sphere. His government’s legislative blitz and efforts to control military appointments have drawn comparisons to similar tactics employed by Donald Trump in the United States. Both leaders, as Informed Comment observes, “mirror one another at every step,” seeking to avoid accountability and criminalize those investigating them.
The current crisis is the latest chapter in Netanyahu’s long and controversial career. Having served as prime minister for most of the past three decades—with terms beginning in 1996, then from 2009 to 2021, and again from 2022 onward—Netanyahu has become, in the words of Informed Comment, the “wolf tree” of Israeli politics, overshadowing other potential leaders and dominating the political landscape.
The stakes are high, not just for Netanyahu but for the very fabric of Israeli democracy. In 2021, then Supreme Court President Aharon Barak proposed a plea bargain that would have ended Netanyahu’s trial and barred him from politics for seven years, in hopes of “repairing the rift in the nation” and protecting the legal system from further attacks. That offer was not accepted, and today, many fear that Netanyahu’s continued pursuit of a pardon—and the political machinations surrounding it—could undermine the independence of Israel’s judiciary and military.
Herzog, for his part, has been careful to avoid taking sides publicly. At the AZM conference, he focused his remarks on the challenges facing the Zionist movement and condemned rising antisemitism, particularly in the United States. He also criticized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for his anti-Zionist advocacy and response to protests targeting Israeli events. “The fact is that in the city, which comprises the largest Jewish community outside the United States, you have a mayor-elect who shows utter contempt to the nation state of the Jewish people,” Herzog said, expressing deep concern over Mamdani’s rhetoric.
Yet, as the calls for and against a pardon grow louder, Herzog’s ultimate decision looms over Israeli politics. Whether he will heed the pleas for unity and reconciliation, or stand firm in defense of judicial process, remains to be seen. What’s clear is that the outcome will shape not only Netanyahu’s fate but the trajectory of Israeli democracy for years to come.
