Lapid tells Herzog to only weigh Netanyahu pardon if it includes admission of guilt

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says he spoke to President Isaac Herzog about a possible pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption trials, urging him to demand a new request that includes an admission of guilt.

“I told the president that if Netanyahu wants his pardon request to be seriously considered, he needs to submit a request according to the law, with an admission of guilt, with an expression of remorse, recognition that there will be” a conviction of moral turpitude, Lapid says in a video filmed outside the president’s residence.

“Only then can it be considered,” Lapid adds.

Netanyahu submitted an official pardon request — that did not contain any admission of guilt — to Herzog’s office in November, and since then, the president has said it is being considered through the proper legal channels.

Meanwhile US President Trump has been heavily pressuring Herzog to grant the pardon, including in sharp comments last week saying he should be “ashamed of himself” if he does not do so.