Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears in court after pardon request in corruption trial

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appeared in court for the first time since asking the country’s President for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial.

Opposition politicians have come out against the request, with some arguing that any pardon should be conditional on Mr Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt.

Others have said the Prime Minister must first call general elections, which are due by October 2026, before requesting any pardon.

Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister, said he would support ending the trial if Mr Netanyahu were to agree to withdraw from politics “in order to pull Israel out of this chaos”.

“This way, we can put this behind us, unite and rebuild the country together,” said Mr Bennett, who led a coalition government that won the 2021 election, ousting Mr Netanyahu from office.

Mr Netanyahu won the election the next year to return to power.

Polls show Mr Bennett as the most likely to head the next government if Mr Netanyahu departed.

Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister, was indicted back in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust after years of investigations.

His trial began in 2020.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and made no admission of guilt in his request for a pardon, with Mr Netanyahu’s lawyers stating that he believed that the legal proceedings, if completed, would end in a complete acquittal.

A small group of demonstrators gathered outside Monday’s Tel Aviv court hearing, some of them wearing orange prison-style jumpsuits and calling on Mr Netanyahu to go to prison.

Ilana Barzilay, one of the demonstrators outside the court, said she believed it was unacceptable that Mr Netanyahu asked for a pardon without pleading guilty or taking any responsibility.

In a letter to President Isaac Herzog that was released on Sunday, lawyers for Mr Netanyahu said that frequent court appearances were hindering the Prime Minister’s ability to govern.

A pardon would also be good for the country, they said.

Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted.

There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.

Allies of Mr Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition have backed his request, which came two weeks after US President Donald Trump wrote to Mr Herzog asking him to consider pardoning Mr Netanyahu, calling the cases against him a “political, unjustified prosecution”.

In recent elections, Mr Netanyahu’s rivals have made his legal cases a central campaign issue.

Many polls indicate that his coalition would struggle to win enough seats to form the next government.