Trump urges Israel’s president to pardon Netanyahu in corruption case
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has received a letter from President Trump urging him to consider granting a pardon to Netanyahu, Herzog’s office said.
Netanyahu has been facing a long-running corruption trial, and Trump has repeatedly asked for a pardon for his close ally. Netanyahu denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
“While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli Justice System, and its requirements, I believe that this ‘case’ against Bibi, who has fought alongside me for a long time, including against the very tough adversary of Israel, Iran, is a political, unjustified prosecution,” Trump said in the letter shared by Herzog’s office.
The office said that anyone seeking a presidential pardon must submit a formal request in accordance with the established procedures.
During Trump’s visit to Israel in October, he had also urged Herzog to pardon the PM in an address to parliament in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases, including allegations of receiving nearly 700,000 shekels ($211,832) in gifts from businessmen. Netanyahu’s trial, which began in 2020, has not yet concluded, and he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Peanuts compared to the bribes Trump is taking...
Israel denying families of freed prisoners right to travel, prisoners group says
Israeli authorities are preventing dozens of families of freed and exiled Palestinian political prisoners from leaving the occupied territories to see their loved ones, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
Abdullah al-Zighari, head of PPS, said the move is part of a “systematic policy of collective revenge”. He noted that many of those deported to Egypt are in dire health conditions and need family support and medical care.
Among them is 71-year-old Abdulrahman Salah from Jenin, who spent 23 years in Israeli prisons before his release earlier this year. Salah is reportedly in critical condition at a hospital in Egypt. Another freed detainee, Motassem Raddad, died soon after his deportation to Egypt, with his family barred from visiting him in his final moments.
Zighari urged the international community to pressure Israel to end these restrictions, describing them as an extension of punitive measures that began during imprisonment and continue even after release.
According to the group, Israel has deported 383 Palestinian political prisoners released in exchange deals with Hamas earlier this year, with most now residing in neighbouring Egypt.
