Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office said in a statement on Thursday that he is still waiting on a legal opinion from the Justice Ministry as he responded to US President Donald Trump’s comments that he “should be ashamed of himself” for not granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request.
Only after that’s complete, his office went on, “will President Herzog consider the request in accordance with the law, the best interests of the State of Israel, guided by his conscience, and without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind.”
The statement went on to say that Herzog “deeply appreciates President Trump for his significant contribution to the State of Israel and its security.”
Netanyahu is Israel's first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime and denies bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 indictment.
Trump has publicly urged the Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu several times, and said in late December that Herzog had told him the pardon was on its way.
Trump on Thursday said Herzog “should be ashamed of himself,” surmising that “he doesn’t want to do it because I guess he loses his power” and that “the people of Israel should really shame him.”
The US President went on to call Netanyahu, with whom he met at the White House this week, “a great wartime prime minister.”
