&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Netanyahu presidential pardon process begins: Is Israel PM's 6-year legal battle finally over?")
The process for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's presidential pardon has begun. This comes as Israeli President Isaac Herzog has initiated a formal process to consider a pardon for Netanyahu, inviting lawyers for both sides to his residence for preliminary talks as he weighs whether to exercise his presidential authority in one of the country's most politically charged legal cases.
Israeli president initiates pardon talks
Herzog's legal adviser Michal Tsuk-Shafir wrote to Netanyahu's lawyer Amit Haddad, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and state prosecutor Amit Aisman, saying the president believes "every effort should be made to hold discussions between the parties to reach understandings" before any decision is taken. The letter was careful to frame the talks as a preliminary step only and not as a signal of the president's intent.
What are the charges against Netanyahu?
Netanyahu is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to face criminal charges, and his testimony, now underway but repeatedly stalled, has become one of the more drawn-out legal dramas in the country's history. He is involved in three separate cases, each involving a different alleged arrangement between Netanyahu and powerful figures in Israeli business and media.
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Case 1000 centres on gifts, cigars, champagne and other expensive items, he allegedly received from wealthy businessmen Arnon Milchan and James Packer, in exchange for actions Netanyahu allegedly took to benefit Milchan. He is charged with fraud and breach of trust.
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Case 2000 involves recorded conversations between Netanyahu and Arnon "Noni" Mozes, publisher of Yediot Aharonot, in which prosecutors say the two men discussed a potential arrangement: favourable coverage of Netanyahu in exchange for steps that would weaken the rival newspaper Israel Hayom. In this case, Netanyahu faces fraud and breach of trust charges; Mozes faces bribery.
Case 4000, known as the Bezeq-Walla affair, is the most serious. Netanyahu is accused of advancing regulatory decisions that benefited Shaul Elovitch, then the controlling shareholder of telecom giant Bezeq, in exchange for favourable coverage on the Walla news site that Elovitch controlled. Netanyahu faces bribery, fraud and breach of trust in this case.
He has denied wrongdoing across all three, arguing the gifts were between friends, the Mozes conversations amounted to nothing criminal, and that no quid pro quo existed in the Walla matter.
