There is no possibility of a presidential pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said former justice minister Haim Ramon, saying the only way to resolve the country’s political impasse is for Netanyahu to retire from political life.
“There is no chance that any of the conditions Netanyahu wants will be met,” he told Prof. Aryeh Eldad and Anat Davidov on 103FM. “The root of the rift in this trial, and in Israeli society in recent years, is ‘only Bibi’ and ‘anyone but Bibi.’ This has been the issue that has followed us for 10 years, tearing and splitting Israeli society.
“Almost every issue that is discussed is about whether it is good for Netanyahu or bad for Netanyahu,” Ramon added. “The issue itself doesn’t matter.”
The former minister argued that the political crisis cannot be resolved without a fundamental change.
“It is impossible to resolve this story at this moment without Netanyahu retiring from political life,” he said. “Since the chances of that are small, I’ll give you a spoiler; there will be no pardon, even if mountains of words and hundreds of thousands of articles are written.”
Pardon request was politically motivated
Ramon rejected claims that a pardon could help end the judicial reform crisis, calling the idea “nonsense.”
“It is impossible, and this is the root of what prevented a plea bargain,” he said.
He also suggested that the pardon request was politically motivated, aimed at securing a clean slate ahead of future elections.
“There is a difference if Netanyahu goes to elections without a trial and without indictments, and therefore, it will not happen, as far as the opposition is concerned,” he said. “The purpose of the pardon request is to reach a situation where he admits nothing, accepts no judgment on himself, and goes ‘clean’ – in the eyes of a large part of the public – into the next elections.”
Ramon also said Netanyahu’s corruption trial poses a greater threat to him than the criticism he faces following the October 7 attack by Hamas.
“With the failure of October 7, he has ways to respond,” Ramon said. “It is true that he is the main one responsible, but there is no one who held office who did not support the policy of containing Hamas.
“Yair Golan, as deputy chief of staff, gave a speech about how good the separation between Gaza and Judea and Samaria is,” he added. “The trial is a great burden for him, and some people see it as a severe blow.”