No, a pardon for Netanyahu will not heal Israel

Netanyahu, after long denying that he planned to do so, has now officially submitted a request for a pardon from Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

This request comes in the wake of pressure from United States President Donald Trump, who sent a letter to Herzog asking him to grant Netanyahu a pardon – a stark example of the President of the United States attempting to interfere with the domestic affairs of another sovereign country.

In a video statement, Netanyahu claims that a pardon would be in the national interest; that as the corruption trial is itself divisive, sidestepping and eliminating the issue by preemptively pardoning the sitting Prime Minister would lower the tensions in the nation and begin to heal the rift in Israeli society. Members of Netanyahu’s coalition have seconded this idea.

A pardon in Netanyahu’s corruption trial will not bridge the divide in Israeli society. It will only make it worse.

On the right side of the political spectrum, and particularly within the voters for Netanyahu’s coalition, there’s a belief that the judicial system is flawed and partial. Throwing around accusations such as that the country is being run by a secret, left-wing,"deep state", the coalition has pushed reforms to limit the power of the courts and concentrate more power in the hands of the government. The Attorney General is under constant attack from the government and its voter base, on the basis that she is working against the interests of the government and trying to sabotage them from within. The Military AG was recently arrested after being exposed for leaking evidence to the press and then lying to the Supreme Court about it, with a public uproar acerbic enough to drive her to attempt suicide.

And through all this, there’s the perception that Netanyahu’s trial is a sham. That this left-wing "deep state" is persecuting Netanyahu on issues such as gifts of champage or Bugs Bunny dolls not out of a sense of justice or upholding the law, but as a witch-hunt.

On the left side of the political spectrum, there’s the belief that the current government, and Netanyahu in particular, have a vested interest in undermining the rule of law and the judicial system specifically so that it cannot convict Netanyahu in his corruption trial. The attempts to pass laws reforming the courts sparked massive protests in 2023. The attacks on the AG are viewed as another method of weakening the rule of law. And through it all, Netanyahu’s trial gets delayed, and days of testimonies canceled, as it slowly drags on and on through the years.

A pardon to Netanyahu would be seen by both sides of the political spectrum as proving them right.

For the right, a pardon would prove that the trial is just not worth continuing – that the evidence was too flimsy, that it was all a witch-hunt against Netanyahu, that there was no real basis to take it to court – and should never have happened in the first place, adding fuel to the fire and spurring on the attempts to weaken the courts and rule of law.

For the left, a pardon would prove that Netanyahu is once again undermining the rule of law, evading a legal process out of fear that it would find him guilty, and abusing his position as Prime Minister – and the pressure from the United States – to quash a court case out of personal interest.

The end result is not healing the country. When each side receives proof that they were correct all along, it only serves to widen the divide, not bridge it. People will become more entrenched in their camps, not less. From the perspective of national unity, it's nothing less than a catastrophe.

There’s currently an international arrest warrant out for Netanyahu. International arrest warrants and issued when the country itself cannot, or will not, investigate crimes and hold itself accountable. Issuing a pardon to Netanyahu would prove that, after all, that description does indeed apply to Israel; the ability of the system to objectively seek the truth and justice will have been destroyed, overruled by political and personal interest.

Netanyahu needs to see this trial through to the end. It may find him guilty. It may find him innocent. But perhaps more importantly, this is more than just Netanyahu standing trial. It is a test of the resilience and independence of the Israeli court system – a test that will determine if Israel is indeed ruled by law, with the capacity to hold individuals to justice, or if it is a country ruled solely by political and personal interest, and the rule of law merely a suggestion.