LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is requesting the country's president grant him a pardon and put an end to his nearly six-year corruption trial. President Trump has also asked for Netanyahu to be pardoned. He wrote Israel's president a letter about that just three weeks ago. What happens next could have major implications for the future of Israel and of the Middle East. NPR's Daniel Estrin is with us now on the line from Tel Aviv. Hello, my friend.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Lauren.
FRAYER: Why is Netanyahu asking for a pardon?
ESTRIN: Well, he argues that it's for the good of the people and the country. That's what his lawyers wrote in a long request to Israel's president, Isaac Herzog. And the lawyer said that this trial has divided Israel as a nation and that Israel needs unity after two years of war. And Netanyahu also released a video today. He said, he has to testify in court three times a week now, and that's impossible to do, he said, while also leading the nation at this crucial time. And Netanyahu also cited President Trump's recent request for a pardon.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Non-English language spoken).
ESTRIN: He said that canceling the trial would allow him and Trump to advance mutual interests for the U.S. and Israel, and he said that this was a window of time that may not return.
FRAYER: Remind us what exactly he is on trial for, and why has this trial lasted nearly six years?
ESTRIN: Yeah, he's on trial charged with accepting bribes from wealthy media moguls in exchange for getting positive press coverage. He - until this day, he professes innocence. Now, trials do tend to last quite long in Israel, but Netanyahu also helped drag this one on. Time after time, he has told the court that he simply couldn't come in to testify. The latest reason he gave was that Trump's envoy Jared Kushner was in town.
FRAYER: And how likely is Israel's president to grant him a pardon?
ESTRIN: Yeah, I asked that of Yohanan Plesner. He's the head of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute. He knows the president personally, and he said that the president could very well grant Netanyahu a pardon because the president really has wanted to resolve this saga for a long time. Plesner also said that over the years, Netanyahu has considered a deal to cancel his trial.
YOHANAN PLESNER: There's one main highway for such an outcome, and this is a plea bargain, and that includes an assumption of responsibility, an expression of regret and, as a result, probably also an agreement that means that Mr. Netanyahu will retire from public life, but none of this is on the table here.
ESTRIN: What is on the table is that Netanyahu simply wants to cancel the trial with no expression of guilt, and he wants to stay in office.
FRAYER: And so what's the next step? What's likely to happen next?
ESTRIN: So President Herzog has to make a decision on a pardon. That is expected to take weeks. He will consult legal authorities. And then if he does issue a pardon, then Israel's Supreme Court could actually and would likely challenge that pardon.
Whatever way this goes, Lauren, it will shape the way Netanyahu leads Israel. He seeks to remain in power. Could he reignite the war in Gaza and in Lebanon? And also we are facing an election year in Israel. And dealing with this trial really helps him galvanize his right-wing base. They think that he is being tried unfairly.
And so this whole question of a pardon can help him distract from the one thing that can hurt his chances of winning reelection, and that is the question of the extent of his responsibility for Israel's biggest security failure in history, the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
FRAYER: That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much.
ESTRIN: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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