Should President Herzog Pardon Prime Minister Netanyahu?

12:58 PM Monday.

I will share my initial opinion. Then I will listen to the above Times of Israel podcast while I have a bit of lunch (cf. Herzog vows to weigh only 'the good of the country' in deliberating Netanyahu pardon | The Times of Israel). Then I will post an addendum if it seems warranted.

My initial opinion is that President Herzog should seriously consider (in consultation with the best possible legal counsel and Israeli public opinion) offering to pardon in advance Prime Minister Netanyahu for the intelligence failure of 7 October 2023, for any violations of Israeli law since 7 October 2023 that Netanyahu may have committed during the course of the war, and for the bribery scandal, IF Prime Minister Netanyahu 1) expresses grief for all of his oversights and miscalculations in the lead-up to October 7, grief for all Israeli civilian/military and Palestinian civilian casualties that followed, and grief for his role in the bribery scandal, AND 2) commits to resign from office and withdraw from political life in early 2026 so that he can pursue teshuvah, AND 3) agrees to an October 7 State Commission of Inquiry with powers to investigate ICC allegations of subsequent war crimes, GIVEN 4) that Netanyahu will not have to himself appear before the Commission or in any subsequent trials unless he so chooses.

This is my opinion as of early this afternoon not just for President Herzog, but also for Prime Minister Netanyahu and for Israel. It's just an opinion from an outside friend. I don't think President Trump should sanction the Israeli judiciary or in any other way pressure President Herzog to grant an unconditional pardon. However, I have to concede that I am just one flawed human data point and it's entirely possible that an unconditional pardon strictly limited to the Prime Minister's request is in the best national security interest of Israel. May God help President Herzog take the best path forward.

End 1:27 PM.