Heritage Minister and Acting Justice Minister Amichai Eliyahu recommended on Tuesday that President Isaac Herzog grant a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The recommendation was submitted in a detailed official document, following a review of the pardon request and accompanying materials.
In the document, Eliyahu noted that the presidential power of pardon allows for consideration of broad factors that go beyond the strict legal process, including national, security, and public interests.
He described the pardon mechanism as a tool designed to address situations in which the public interest justifies deviating from standard legal proceedings.
The minister stressed that continuing the criminal proceedings against the Prime Minister - particularly during a complex security period - could impair the functioning of the leadership and its decision-making capacity. He also pointed to serious questions surrounding the legal process itself and the widespread public crisis of trust that has emerged.
Eliyahu further argued that, in the context of Operation Roaring Lion and the multi-front war Israel is fighting, the senior political echelon must be fully available. He wrote that “managing a complex war requires absolute focus," and that the legal proceedings constitute an undue burden on the Prime Minister.
At the conclusion of his recommendation, the minister called on the President to exercise his pardon authority, stressing the need to heal public divisions and strengthen national unity.
Eliyahu concluded the letter with the following words: “Accordingly, I have the honor, as the authorized representative of the executive branch before the President of the State, to hereby recommend that a pardon be granted."