A Pardon Too Late

By seeking a presidential pardon he may never receive, Benjamin Netanyahu has triggered national outrage, exposed political fractures, and accelerated the downfall he tried for years to postpone

- ASIF ULLAH KHAN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "shot himself in the head—not the foot—" by seeking a presidential pardon in the corruption cases against him.

He now risks becoming the first Israeli premier to openly and shamelessly request clemency for crimes he publicly denies. The move has already provoked a fierce backlash: mass demonstrations have erupted outside the President's residence, with protesters demanding that the appeal be rejected, making the prospect of a pardon increasingly remote.

And even if, hypothetically, a pardon were granted, it would end his political career in disgrace. Under Israeli law, a pardon requires a formal admission of guilt—a condition Netanyahu has spent years fighting. In seeking clemency, he has trapped himself: caught between admitting guilt to save himself from prison or rejecting a pardon and facing trial—a textbook case of being caught between a rock and a hard place. Even members of his own camp have turned on him: former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, now the frontrunner to replace him, bluntly declared he would support a pardon only if Netanyahu leaves politics forever.