Netanyahu's ex-lawyer said it was impossible to pardon the prime minister.

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog cannot make a decision to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a corruption case without a guilty plea from Netanyahu himself. This was announced on December 1 by his former lawyer Mika Fetman.

"A pardon is given to a criminal — this is what the law provides," The Times of Israel (TOI) quotes Fetman as saying.

Fetman's statement, as the newspaper points out, was made against the background of the protests that began at the president's house. The protesters are demanding that the president reject Netanyahu's request for clemency.

At the same time, Herzog said that he was trying to find legal justification for the pardon request before discussing it, and denied reports that he was now inclined to conditionally grant Netanyahu's request.

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In 2019, it became known that the wife of the Prime Minister of Israel, Sarah Netanyahu, was found guilty of improper use of state funds and ordered to pay a fine of 55 thousand shekels (at that time $ 15.2 thousand) for illegal use of catering services.

In February 2019, Israeli Prosecutor General Avichai Mendelblit announced his intention to bring charges against Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister was suspected of bribing the media and receiving gifts from businessmen in exchange for patronage. Netanyahu himself has repeatedly denied involvement in corruption and called the accusations a witch hunt.

In June 2025, the court rejected Netanyahu's request to be excused from testifying in the corruption case. Later, on September 29, Herzog made it clear that he could pardon Netanyahu during the corruption trial, saying that "this case puts a lot of pressure on Israeli society."

On November 12, US President Donald Trump sent an official letter to Yitzhak Herzog urging him to consider pardoning Netanyahu. Trump expressed respect for the Israeli judicial system, but called the case against the prime minister unfounded and political.

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