Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will not retire from politics in exchange for a pardon in his corruption trial.
“Do you intend to retire from public life if you receive a pardon?” Netanyahu is asked at the tail end of his joint appearance with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“No,” he replies.
“Are you open to a plea bargain?” comes the follow-up question.
“No,” he replies again.
“They’re very eager. They’re very concerned with my future,” Netanyahu then says. “Well, so are the voters, and they’ll decide, obviously.”
“But we have big tasks to do, including with Germany in historic cooperation that will actually… in many ways, tower over our previous cooperation, which was quite amazing. But that’s not surprising, because, as you can see, Chancellor Merz is a towering figure,” Netanyahu jokes, referring to the German leader’s height.
He and Merz then leave.
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