Benjamin Netanyahu seeks a pardon from Israel’s president to end his corruption trial.

This incident emerged from an investigation by the Israel Securities Authority into Bezeq Israel Telecommunications Corporation Ltd, Israel’s largest telecommunications company, and Saul Elovitch, then the company’s controlling shareholder. Although the investigation initially focused on other matters, it quickly became clear that businesses linked to Elovitch, who also controlled Walla, a popular news website, had benefited from favorable government regulations.

Investigators seeking motive questioned Walla’s CEO; He stated that he received numerous requests from himself, Elovitch and his wife Iris to make positive news about Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

The prosecution alleges that Netanyahu and Elovitch established a “give and take” relationship: The Elovitches went to great lengths to accommodate requests for more positive coverage of the Netanyahus, and the prime minister used his authority to promote Elovitch’s business interests and “participated in his regulatory affairs on several occasions.”

Saul and Iris Elovitch were charged with bribery and obstruction of justice.

Netanyahu argued that receiving positive media coverage was a normal part of his job and that no favors were offered in return. Even before his testimony, which began in December 2024, judges in the case had stated that the bribery charge would be difficult to prove and asked the prosecution to drop the case, but the prosecution refused and the charge remains.

What are the other two situations?

In the second case, known as Case 1000, Netanyahu was accused of fraud and breach of trust for receiving lavish gifts from Israeli and Australian billionaire James Packer to Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan in connection with his tenure as prime minister.

According to prosecutors, Milchan introduced Netanyahu to Packer, and the two gave the prime minister and his wife gifts worth an estimated 690,000 shekels ($319,000) over five years starting in 2011 — including cigars and cases of champagne delivered with Milchan’s permission.

During those years, Netanyahu allegedly approached US government officials to help Milchan obtain a US entry visa and encouraged the expansion of tax benefits that concerned him. He is also accused of assisting Milchan in arranging the merger of two local TV giants to make a potential investment viable for the producer.

Netanyahu disputed the amount of gifts he received and the reasons behind them. In his statement, he said that he was a very close friend of Milchan, that he did not act in his favor, and that he was not even aware that some of the political issues mentioned in the indictment concerned him.

Packer is not accused of any wrongdoing

In the third case, known as Case 2000, Netanyahu is accused of fraud and breach of trust for the purpose of promising benefits to Arnon Mozes, the dominant owner of the Yedioth Ahronoth publishing house, whose eponymous daily newspaper is one of the most popular in the country.

Police came across this evidence during another investigation involving Netanyahu’s former chief of staff. There were recordings of conversations between Netanyahu and Mozes on his phone. In them, Mozes offered to sway the news in Netanyahu’s favor and in return asked the prime minister to pass a law that would block Yedioth Ahronoth’s biggest rival. Israel Hayom, A newspaper owned by Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, who have since died.

The prosecution alleges that Netanyahu had no intention of doing this, but acted as if he did in the hope of receiving positive news ahead of the upcoming elections. Prosecutors said Netanyahu conveyed the message that bribery was a legitimate tool and thus undermined public trust in elected officials.

Mozes was accused of offering and promising bribes in the ongoing case.

What impact did the case have on Israeli politics?

Since no political party has a majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, coalition governments have almost always formed in the country. The reluctance of Israeli parties to join coalition governments with the Likud party following Netanyahu’s indictment by the attorney general in 2019 contributed to a period of political instability. Five general elections were held in Israel from 2019 to 2022, either because no party was able to form a coalition or because no coalition was stable for long.

Following elections later that year, Netanyahu formed the current government with the only parties willing to partner with him – parties representing Israel’s ultra-orthodox Jews and two parties led by more hard-line nationalists Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. The inclusion of these two made the government the most right-wing in Israeli history.

How did the Netanyahu government take action against state institutions?

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Over the past three decades, the Israeli right has expressed growing anger at the power of Israel’s Supreme Court, which curbs populist legislation and protects the rights of minorities, including Arabs. Israel does not have a constitution that gives the court such authority. He created it for himself in the 1990s and said the legislation would be judged by Israel’s Basic Laws, which constitute the country’s closest thing to a constitution.

Netanyahu generally stayed away from complaints and praised Israel’s independent judiciary. But when the legal system came after him, it accused him of pursuing him because of political differences, with the aim of overthrowing the right from power. This paved the way for forces within his government to seek to weaken the power of the Supreme Court and the legal establishment through a series of legislative changes.

The planned judicial overhaul has sparked mass protests from Israelis who argue the changes would undermine the country’s democracy. Some members of Israel’s security establishment say Hamas read the protracted infighting over the plan as weakness, and that it was a factor in the group’s decision to provoke war by launching an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

After that, the government temporarily shelved its initiative. But he continued his efforts by introducing a law in the Knesset in March that increased the role of politicians in selecting judges.

Can Netanyahu be forgiven?

Following his call to the Knesset, Trump wrote a letter to Herzog on November 12, urging him to “fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, a terrific and determined wartime Prime Minister.”

“Netanyahu has stood firm with Israel in the face of powerful enemies and formidable obstacles, and his attention cannot be unnecessarily diverted,” Trump wrote.

But the path to forgiveness is complicated. This authority can only be granted by the Israeli president, but is usually for those who have already been convicted. A preemptive presidential pardon has been granted only once in Israeli history, by Herzog’s predecessor and father, Chaim. He granted the concession to a group of Shin Bet officials who were under police investigation for the killings of two Palestinian bus hijackers in the 1980s.

But this was part of the package deal in which the head of the agency agreed to resign.

Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the idea of ​​resigning and in 2022 turned down a plea bargain offer that would have involved admitting less wrongdoing in exchange for staying out of politics for seven years.

In October, he announced plans to run in the next election, which must be held by October 2026. Although the ruling coalition has lost much of its popular support since coming to power, his party still polls better than others in opinion polls.

When will Netanyahu’s trial end?

There is no set date for the trial to conclude, and estimates are that it will take several more years. As of late October, Netanyahu was still being cross-examined by the prosecutor’s office, and this is expected to continue for several more months. Hearings on Case 2000 are still ahead, an opportunity for Netanyahu’s lawyers to ask him questions to clarify or repair points made in his cross-examination, testimony from defense witnesses, and the presentation of written and oral closing arguments. Even after the judges reach their decision, Netanyahu has the right to appeal to a higher court, which will take time.

What happens if Netanyahu is convicted?

Netanyahu’s trial is unlikely to be resolved during his current term, but he could become prime minister again after the next general election. There is no precedent for a sitting prime minister in Israel to be tried, let alone convicted. One of Netanyahu’s predecessors, Ehud Olmert, was tried, convicted and jailed on corruption charges, but only after leaving office. He was released in 2017.

Under Israeli law, if a prime minister is convicted of a crime involving “moral turpitude” and all appeals have been exhausted, his term automatically ends. The government will serve as an interim government until the new one is sworn in.