Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says he will support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon if it is conditioned on the premier’s retirement from politics.
“In recent years, the State of Israel has been led into chaos and to the brink of a civil war that threatens the very existence of the state,” Bennett writes on X.
“In order to rescue Israel from the chaos, I will support a binding arrangement that includes a respectful retirement from political life alongside the end of the trial,” he says. “That way, we can let it go, unite, and rebuild the state together.”
A Bennett- and Yair Lapid-led coalition unseated Netanyahu as prime minister for 18 months from mid-2021, before a Netanyahu-led bloc won the elections in November 2022. Opinion polls consistently indicate that a Bennett-led party and bloc would be best-placed to defeat Netanyahu and his allies in the next elections, which must be held by next October.
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Sunday, November 30, 2025
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