Herzog denies, denounces report intimating a deal prepared years ago between him and Netanyahu on a pardon

Channel 12 publishes the contents of a confidential 17-page legal opinion that it says was drafted in 2019 for a former associate of President Isaac Herzog, then head of the Jewish Agency and the leading candidate for the presidency, regarding a president’s powers to grant a pardon before a conviction in a political matter. The report is broadcast following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official request last week for a pardon from Herzog in his corruption trial without admitting guilt.

The report prompts a firm denial from Herzog’s office of the suggestion, raised in the TV report, that he was involved years ago in preparing a deal under which he would back a pardon for Netanyahu in exchange for Netanyahu’s support for his then-future presidential bid. His office dismisses the report as unfounded and outrageous, denounces its publication as outside the legitimate limits of free speech, and says he has instructed his attorney to immediately take the appropriate legal action.

“There was never any agreement, understanding or acknowledgment between President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linking Herzog’s tenure to Netanyahu’s legal proceedings, neither explicitly nor implicitly,” Herzog’s office says, adding that anyone who claims the contrary is lying and at risk of legal action.

The Channel 12 report features quotations from the alleged contents of the legal opinion, which it says was prepared by senior attorney Eyal Rozovsky. It reportedly examines the question of whether an Israeli president can pardon a sitting prime minister before indictment or conviction – and whether such clemency could be offered as part of a negotiated exit from political life.

According to Channel 12, the Rozovsky document delves into several sensitive legal issues, including whether a pre-conviction pardon is permissible under Israeli law, whether accepting such a pardon would constitute an admission of guilt, and what constraints limit the president’s constitutional authority.

The opinion reportedly determines that while the law grants the president exceptionally broad clemency powers, “for an early pardon to be given in a political matter, what is practically needed is agreement and cooperation of the legal authorities and most of all the attorney general. The president’s decision must be resolute. The final decision will be in the hands of the High Court of Justice.”

Rozovsky’s document, the TV report says, relies heavily on precedent from the Bus 300 affair, in which former president Chaim Herzog – the current president’s father – pardoned Shin Bet officials before they were convicted of any wrongdoing.

Channel 12 notes that the Rozovsky opinion treats that case as the clearest legal foundation for a pre-conviction pardon and highlights the High Court’s affirmation of the president’s broad discretion.

Channel 12 quotes a source who was close to Herzog at the time the document was written claiming that he requested it due to political considerations, rather than professional ones, in “preparation for a deal with Netanyahu. Support me for president, and, in return, I will support granting a pardon, as far as it depends on me,” the source is quoted saying.

At the time that the alleged document was created, Reuven Rivlin was still president, with roughly two years left until the end of his term.

Herzog was elected by a secret ballot in the Knesset in June 2021, with 87 of the 120 MKs voting in his favor.

Herzog’s office states that the 2019 legal opinion was not requested by Herzog but by a former campaign manager and adviser, Motti Sander, who ordered the report in a personal capacity, and that it has been previously established that Herzog had nothing to do with it. Sander, his office adds, was no longer working for Herzog when he launched his presidential bid.

“Mr Sander apparently asked for the legal opinion, having for years tried to push a plea bargain and pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu,” it says.

“President Isaac Herzog did not see this opinion and only discovered it years later when it was published in the press,” his office adds.

It further notes that the president “was elected to his position with an unprecedented majority after receiving broad support from all factions in the House, and did not need the support of Netanyahu or others on his behalf.”

It reiterates Herzog’s comments last week that Netanyahu’s request for a pardon would be examined in a process that will last many weeks, and that it is currently with the relevant authorities in the Justice Ministry.