Al Jazeera: Netanyahu Running Out of Options in Fraud Trial — Now Seeking a Pardon
December 2, 2025
Netanyahu’s empire is crumbling in real time.
His fraud trial is tightening, allies are fading, and now leaked reports say he’s scrambling for a political escape hatch — even floating a pardon to dodge accountability.
For decades he’s weaponized fear, power, and distraction.
Now he’s the one cornered — and the world is watching whether Israel’s most controversial leader finally faces the justice he’s spent a lifetime avoiding.
History doesn’t forget.
And it never forgives a cover-up.
#Netanyahu #FraudTrial
English Script:
Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a formal pardon from the three cases of corruption he’s been fighting in court.
Benjamin Netanyahu: My lawyers submitted a request for a pardon to the president of the State today. I expect that all those who place the good of the country above all else will support this step.
US president Donald Trump had also appealed to Isaac Herzog on the PM’s behalf
Donald Trump: I have an idea, Mr. President. Why don’t you give him a pardon? Oh. Give him a pardon.
Benjamin Netanyahu: I took into account President Te=rump’s repeated appeals to the president of the State. President Trump has called for the immediate termination of the trial so that I can together with him further advance vital interests shared by Israel and the United States.
Netanyahu had been charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. He pleaded not guilty, but now says a pardon will restore national unity. The opposition leader says the PM would need to step down from politics.
Yair Lapid: I call on president Herzog you cannot grant him a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and immediate retirement from political life.
Nour Odeh: Netanyahu while waging war on several fronts in the region, while committing a genocide and dealing with an arrest warrant by the ICC for those crimes, he has had to deal with these court hearings. He has had to deal with those corruption charges with his adversaries in the opposition saying that he is not fit for office. And so filing this petition after having said he would never admit guilt or ask for mercy, for pardon in a trial he’s named ridiculous is significant, but it does indicate that Netanyahu is running out of options.
