Herzog Delays Netanyahu Pardon, Seeks Plea Deal in Corruption Case

Isaac Herzog is holding back on Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request and is pressing for a plea bargain or mediation instead, a move that keeps Israel’s most explosive political case in the hands of lawyers rather than the president’s office. The choice matters because it preserves pressure on Netanyahu while leaving open a negotiated exit from the corruption trial that has shadowed his government for years.

Netanyahu filed the pardon request on November 30, 2025, without admitting guilt. He has been on trial since May 2020, after his indictment on November 21, 2019, on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges in three linked cases known as Cases 1000, 2000 and 4000. Witness testimony began in April 2021, and the proceeding is now in its seventh year. Case 4000, the most serious of the three, has centered on alleged benefits involving Bezeq and favorable coverage on the Walla news site.

Herzog’s office has treated the request as extraordinary, but his current posture suggests he is not prepared to grant clemency now. Under the Basic Law: President of the State, the president can pardon offenders and commute sentences, with the justice minister involved in the process. Yet the Israel Democracy Institute has said pre-conviction pardons are rare and meant for exceptional circumstances, and the old Bus 300 affair remains the only precedent routinely cited, even though legal analysts say it is not directly comparable because it involved admissions of wrongdoing.

That leaves the real leverage distributed across four players. Herzog can slow the process and steer it toward mediation. Prosecutors can decide whether any plea deal is acceptable and whether it serves the public interest. Netanyahu can choose whether to keep fighting a trial that has become a national test of power, or to seek a settlement that would let him claim closure without a verdict. Coalition partners, meanwhile, have the most to lose from prolonged legal paralysis, since any breakdown in negotiations could deepen political instability and turn the case back into a daily government crisis. A deal would also reduce one legal distraction at a time when Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making and coalition management remain tied to his political survival.

The public reaction underscored the stakes. Protesters gathered outside the Tel Aviv District Court after the pardon request became public, reflecting the sharp divide over whether a sitting prime minister can seek relief before conviction without weakening the rule of law. Herzog’s reluctance to move straight to a pardon now puts the focus on whether Israel’s institutions can force a negotiated ending before the case reaches another collision point between the presidency, the prosecution and Netanyahu’s political future.