Trump says Israeli president should be ashamed over Netanyahu pardon, Herzog responds: “Israel operates by the Law”

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US President Donald Trump (R) meets with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at the White House on February 11, in Washington DC, United States. [Avi Ohayon – GPO – Anadolu Agency]

US President Donald Trump criticised Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday evening for not granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his ongoing corruption trial, prompting a firm reply from the Israeli president’s office.

Speaking to reporters about Netanyahu’s visit to Washington and other political and security issues, Trump said: “President Herzog should be ashamed of himself, a pardon over this trial that’s going on. The president of Israel, the primary power he’s got is the power to give pardons.”

Repeating his criticism, Trump added: “he said he’s given it five different times, but he doesn’t want to do it, because I guess he loses his power. I think the people of Israel should really shame him. He is disgraceful for not giving it.”

READ: Herzog says he will consider Netanyahu’s pardon request only in the state’s interest

In response, the office of Isaac Herzog said: “The prime minister’s request is currently under review at the Justice Ministry for a legal opinion in accordance with the established procedures,” according to The Times of Israel.

The statement added, “Only upon completion of that process will President Herzog consider the request in accordance with the law, the best interests of the State of Israel, guided by his conscience, and without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind.”

It stressed that “Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law.”

The statement also noted that President Herzog appreciates the significant contribution made by Donald Trump to Israel and its security.

It concluded: “Contrary to the impression created by President Trump’s remarks, President Herzog has not yet made any decision on this matter.”

READ: Netanyahu may seek Trump’s backing for Gaza relocation plan: Hebrew newspaper

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Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.

Continue ReadingTrump says Israeli president should be ashamed over Netanyahu pardon, Herzog responds: “Israel operates by the Law”

Israeli prime minister returns to court for 70th hearing in corruption trial

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv, on April 21, 2025. [Moti KIMCHI / POOL / AFP / Getty Images]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared Tuesday before the District Court in Tel Aviv for the 70th time as part of his ongoing corruption trial, Anadolu reports.

Independent Israeli journalist Orly Barlev, who has closely tracked the case since its outset, said the latest session marked the 70th day of Netanyahu’s courtroom testimony.

“Today marks the 70th day of testimony by the defendant Netanyahu, with questioning continuing in Case 4000,” Barlev wrote on the US social media company X.

The hearing comes as Israeli society remains divided over Netanyahu’s request for a presidential pardon from President Isaac Herzog, a move that has drawn both political backing and sharp criticism.

Netanyahu formally submitted the pardon request on Nov. 30 last year, seeking relief from the corruption charges without admitting wrongdoing or withdrawing from public life.

Since the trial began, Netanyahu has consistently denied all allegations. Under Israeli law, however, a presidential pardon can only be granted following an admission of guilt.

READ: Israeli court rejects Netanyahu’s request to reduce his corruption trial days

The prime minister is facing charges in three separate cases, commonly known as Case 1000, Case 2000 and Case 4000. The indictments were filed in late November 2019 by then-Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

Case 1000 centers on allegations that Netanyahu and members of his family received costly gifts from wealthy businessmen in exchange for political favors.

Case 2000 involves claims that Netanyahu held talks with Arnon Mozes, publisher of the privately owned Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, in an effort to secure favorable media coverage.

Case 4000 focuses on accusations that Netanyahu granted regulatory benefits to Shaul Elovitch, former owner of the Walla news website and a senior executive at Bezeq telecommunications company, in return for positive press.

Netanyahu’s trial has been underway since 2020 and remains unresolved. He continues to dismiss the charges, portraying them as a politically motivated effort to force him from office.

Beyond the domestic proceedings, Netanyahu is also facing international legal scrutiny. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against him over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, where more than 71,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 171,000 others injured in a brutal assault since October 2023.

READ: Trump urges Israel to cancel Netanyahu’s trial or grant a pardon

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Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Continue ReadingIsraeli prime minister returns to court for 70th hearing in corruption trial

Morningstar Editorial: Israel will keep killing Palestinians, ceasefire or no, unless it faces consequences

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-will-keep-killing-palestinians-ceasefire-or-no-unless-it-faces-consequences

 Yahya Eid mourns over the body of his 10-year-old nephew, Shabaan Eid, who was killed by an Israeli army strike on the Bureij camp, during his funeral at al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, October 29, 2025

“NOTHING is going to jeopardise” the ceasefire in Gaza, says US President Donald Trump.

Western politicians’ language when addressing the Israel-Palestine “conflict” — a conflict provoked entirely by Israel’s illegal and murderous occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land — regularly upends reality, but here Trump takes the biscuit.

Of course “nothing will jeopardise” a ceasefire if you can claim it is holding while one side kills 104 people, including 46 children, in overnight air raids.

In fact Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire since it took effect on October 10, both by direct attacks on Palestinians (Tuesday night’s raids bring the number killed by Israeli action in Gaza since the fighting has officially stopped to 211) and by allowing access only to a fraction of the promised humanitarian assistance.

It has refused to reopen the Rafah crossing (itself a violation) and continues to severely restrict the number of aid lorries, though the people of Gaza face famine as a result of its blockade, and a chronic shortage of medicines and medical equipment — when not only are hundreds of thousands seriously injured, but disease is spreading at what the World Health Organisation calls a “catastrophic” rate because of the destruction of health and sanitation infrastructure.

Israel’s continued restrictions on bringing machinery into Gaza are also partly responsible for the violations it blames on Hamas, since the Palestinian group points out that retrieving the bodies of deceased hostages from beneath the rubble of buildings or tunnels destroyed by Israeli bombs is a slow and complicated process.

It is this issue which prompted Israel’s resumption of bombing in a blitz rivalling the most murderous nights of its two-year invasion. Forensic analysts say human remains handed over by Hamas did not come from one of 13 hostages whose bodies are still to be returned, but from one whose body was retrieved by the Israeli military nearly two years ago.

Whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have reacted quite so explosively if announcing a national emergency hadn’t conveniently cut short a hearing in his own ongoing corruption trial, we don’t know. But his decision to treat Hamas’s return, whether wittingly or not, of the wrong person’s remains as an outrageous breach of the truce has cost 104 people their lives.

As UN special rapporteur Dr Francesca Albanese puts it, Israel’s approach to a ceasefire is “you cease, I fire.”

Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-will-keep-killing-palestinians-ceasefire-or-no-unless-it-faces-consequences

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingMorningstar Editorial: Israel will keep killing Palestinians, ceasefire or no, unless it faces consequences