Netanyahu says he won’t accept pardon in corruption trial if it means admitting guilt

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeats his gratitude to US President Donald Trump for being “so forthright” in his letter to President Isaac Herzog yesterday requesting a pardon for the premier.

“This trial is so absurd,” Netanyahu says in an interview with Australian TV host Erin Molan. “I spent three days a week, can you imagine this, running a war and now seeking to expand the peace. I spent three days a week in a court talking about why my son Yair… when he was five years old, received a Bugs Bunny doll. That’s a terrible bribe! Or how I received some cigars from a friend. I mean, the whole thing’s ridiculous…”

“It hurts both American and Israeli interests, which is also what [Trump] said,” Netanyahu says of his corruption trial and his time in court. “My time has to be free to pursue the things that will determine Israel’s future and the future of peace in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu is charged with one count of bribery, as well as three counts each of fraud and breach of trust, in three separate cases relating to corruption allegations against him. His trial began in 2020 and is still far from over.

Asked if he would accept a pardon if one was offered to him, Netanyahu says, “I’ll think about it.”

He stresses, however, that he will not accept a pardon if it means admitting guilt: “That’s not going to happen. Nobody suggests that that’s what I’ll do, and I certainly won’t do that.”

Asked about New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s threats to arrest him if he visits the city, Netanyahu says, “Am I afraid of going there? Hell, no. Of course not.”

He says he would be open to speaking with Mamdani if he educates himself. “It’s good to be a young leader, but it’s not good to be a young, uneducated leader in the sense of not knowing economics, not knowing what antisemitism is, not knowing who the bad guys are. I think you should brush up on that. Then we might have a conversation.”