Trump calls Israel’s president ‘disgraceful’ for not pardoning Netanyahu | Donald Trump News

The US president tells reporters that Isaac Herzog should be ‘ashamed’ for not pardoning Netanyahu’s bribery charges.

Donald Trump has upped his pressure against Israel’s President Isaac Herzog as he seeks a pardon for his ally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing bribery charges.

The United States president told reporters on Thursday that the Israeli prime minister has been an “extraordinary” wartime leader. He then condemned Herzog for failing to offer Netanyahu presidential clemency.

“You have a president that refuses to give him a pardon. I think that man should be ashamed of himself,” Trump said of Herzog.

He added that Israelis should pressure Herzog to grant the pardon to Netanyahu.

“He’s disgraceful for not giving it. He should give it,” Trump said.

The comments come a day after Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House — their seventh meeting since the US president returned to power last year.

Netanyahu has been accused of receiving lavish gifts as bribes and considering deals with media outlets in exchange for favourable coverage of his government.

His first trial started in 2020, but the legal proceedings have been repeatedly disrupted by the geopolitical upheaval in the region, including Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

The US has previously called on Herzog — whose role is largely ceremonial — to grant amnesty to Netanuahu, a power allocated to Israel’s presidents.

But with Thursday’s rebuke, Trump appears to be asserting himself directly in the country’s domestic politics.

The push for pardoning Netanyahu highlights the exceptional ties between Trump and Netanyahu, two right-wing politicians who have demonstrated a remarkable ability to survive scandals and legal problems.

Trump has previously petitioned Herzog for a pardon in public, most notably from behind the lectern of the Israeli Parliament last October.

“I have an idea: Mr President, why don’t you give him a pardon?” Trump said during his speech.

He also appeared to make light of the bribery charges, referencing at one point the luxury goods Netanyahu allegedly received. “Cigars and champagne — who the hell cares about it?” Trump asked.

Herzog has previously said that any pardon request must follow the normal reviews and procedures under the country’s laws.

Additionally to his domestic legal woes, Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over war crime charges in Gaza, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

Herzog, a veteran politician who rose through the centre-left Labour party, is often portrayed in Western media as a less hawkish figure than Netanyahu.

But the Israeli president has also served as an uncompromising defender of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza.

Early in the war, he suggested that all Palestinians must be punished for Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, against Israel.

“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,” Herzog said at that time. “This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved — it’s absolutely not true. They could’ve risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime.”

His statement has been cited by leading rights groups and United Nations investigators as evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza.