JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump urged Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, during an address to the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem.

During a more than one-hour speech, Trump said: “Hey, I have an idea. Mr President, why don’t you give him a pardon? Cigars and some champagne who the hell cares?” referring to the fraud, bribery and breach of trust charges, which Netanyahu denies.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases, one of which includes receiving almost 700,000 shekels ($210,000) in gifts from businessmen, including champagne and cigars.

Israel’s president holds a largely ceremonial role but he does have the authority to pardon a convicted criminal if there are unusual circumstances presented.

However, there has been no ruling in Netanyahu’s long-running trial which began in 2020 and has been interrupted frequently during two years of conflict and Middle East upheaval. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Trump in June called for Netanyahu’s trial to be cancelled. Netanyahu has cast his legal ordeal as a left-wing witch-hunt aimed at toppling an elected right-wing leader.

US President Donald Trump’s address to the Israeli parliament was briefly interrupted on Monday as two left-wing lawmakers were expelled. “That was very efficient,” Trump quipped as the MPs were swiftly removed.

The US president had paused as a Knesset staff member audibly ordered the expulsion of lawmaker Ofer Cassif following an apparent protest. During the session, in which Trump was otherwise warmly received and given multiple standing ovations, Cassif had brandished a sign.

A photo in his post showed a piece of paper emblazoned: “Recognise Palestine!”

“This is the banner I waved in front of Trump at the Knesset and was subsequently removed from the plenum,” Cassif posted. Another leftist, Ayman Odeh, leader of Cassif’s Hadash alliance, was also seen brandishing a page of paper and being removed.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2025