Netanyahu’s Pardon Request Borrows From Trump’s Playbook
In many ways, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request mimics how President Trump has assailed his perceived enemies and attacked legal proceedings against him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request on Sunday for a pardon that would short-circuit his long-running corruption trial was made in the dryly polite terms of a legal brief, not in the provocative language of a social-media post.
In its sheer audacity, however, it seemed ripped from the playbook of another leader who did not let multiple felony charges, or even a conviction, stop him from seeking power: President Trump.
Mr. Netanyahu’s petition to the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, admitted nothing and expressed no contrition. In a one-page letter that he himself signed, he did not use the word “pardon,” instead stiffly requesting an “end of the trial.” It came a little over two weeks after President Trump sent a letter to Mr. Herzog urging him to pardon Mr. Netanyahu.
Mr. Netanyahu’s lawyers, in a 111-page filing, assailed the way he had been investigated, the timing of his indictment and the substance of the charges against him, and insisted that he would be acquitted in the end.
There, too, were many similarities in the filing to tactics favored by Mr. Trump, including demonizing the law enforcement system, portraying Mr. Netanyahu as a victim and appearing to hint at the prospect of retribution.
The lawyers argued that for the good of Israel, its leader should be freed from wasting valuable time defending himself in court. (No matter that Mr. Netanyahu had rejected calls when he was indicted in 2019 that he step down to face trial rather than be distracted from running the country.)
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