Politicians in Israel's opposition slammed attempts to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pardon following the prime minister's Sunday submission of a formal request for a presidential pardon in his ongoing trial to President Isaac Herzog.
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) addressed Herzog in his response to the pardon request.
”You cannot grant Netanyahu a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse, and an immediate withdrawal from political life," Lapid said.
The Democrats chairperson, Yair Golan, said, “Only someone who is guilty asks for a pardon.”
"The only deal on the table is that Netanyahu must take responsibility, admit guilt, leave politics, and free the people and the state; only then will unity be achieved," Golan said.
Netanyahu's pardon request a way to 'control public discourse'
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar!) said, "Netanyahu, Israel is a state of law. There is not one legal system for ordinary citizens and another for you."
“It can be assumed that when the president exercises his authority to grant a pardon, he will remember that the one requesting the pardon must take responsibility for his actions, admit to the offenses he committed, and express sincere remorse,” Eisenkot added.
Yisrael Beytenu chairperson Avigdor Liberman said that the pardon request was a method for Netanyahu to “control the public discourse” amid the controversy over the recent developments with the haredi conscription law.
The Movement for Quality Government said granting Netanyahu a pardon would be "a fatal blow to Israeli democracy."
“A pardon in the middle of a legal process constitutes a fatal blow to the rule of law and the principle of equality before the law - the lifeblood of Israeli democracy."
"Granting a pardon to a prime minister accused of serious offenses of fraud and breach of trust would send a clear message that there are citizens who are above the law," the organization stated.