Herzog refuses question on Netanyahu pardon as shouts of ‘shame’ ring out at NY event

Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

An audience member demands President Isaac Herzog pardon Prime Minister Netanyahu at an American Zionist Movement event in New York City, December 8, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
An audience member demands President Isaac Herzog pardon Prime Minister Netanyahu at an American Zionist Movement event in New York City, December 8, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

President Isaac Herzog refuses to take a question about pardoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an event in New York City.

An audience member demands that Herzog deliver an “immediate, unconditional pardon” for Netanyahu at the American Zionist Movement biennial national assembly in downtown Manhattan.

Another member of the audience stands up and brandishes a pink banner that reads, “Please, pardon Netanyahu!”

Members of the crowd shout “shame” in Hebrew at the pair.

“Let’s stop right there,” Herzog says, as the moderator, journalist Abigail Pogrebin, calls for “some semblance of order.”

“We made it very clear that we should focus on the challenges of the Zionist movement in America,” Herzog says, before moving on to the next question.

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