Dear President Herzog: My Case Against a Pardon for the PM

President Yitzhak Herzog has asked the people of Israel to weigh in on the unprecedented request from the Prime Minister to stop his trial

Here is what I would like to say to the President about the new request, along with some background for my readers.  First the background.

•   Any person may apply to the office of the President for a pardon, but such requests are generally only considered after all legal proceedings (trials, appeals, etc.) have been completed. Pre-conviction requests are allowed only in very exceptional circumstances. While one does not strictly need to have admitted guilt, and strictly speaking a prior conviction is typically — but not absolutely — required, as far as I can tell there was only one case in our country’s history when such a pre-conviction and pre-emptive pardon was issued. That was by the current President’s late father, the sixth President, in the Bus 300 affair.
• Even in the extraordinary case of Moshe Katzav, Israel’s eighth President, no pardon was issued by then-President Rivlin, in part because Katzav consistently refused to admit any wrongdoing. And we know that the Pardons Department of the Ministry of Justice, the attorney general, and generally the President all place very heavy weight on remorse, responsibility, and rehabilitation.
• In the case of President Rivlin, when a request for a pardon for Katzav reached his desk, he refused to issue it because, among other reasons, he believed a pardon would undermine public trust in state institutions.
• Netanyahu has never accepted any responsibility for the unpreparedness that led to the unprecedented events of 7 October. He has pointed his finger at everyone except himself. He refuses to submit to a state-sponsored commission of inquiry, or even agreed to its formation.  In spite of his demanding that former President Olmert resign when he was indicted for crimes, for which he eventually went to prison, Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to do so in his own case and has instead consistently delayed his trial to avoid taking responsibility, and will continue to do so. In fact, he did not actually use the word “pardon,” but instead stiffly requested an “end of the trial,” while at the same time maintaining that he wants it in order to prove his innocence.

Now my letter:

Dear President Herzog,

I am writing in regard to the question of giving Prime Minister Netanyahu a pardon. I oppose such a pardon.

My nearly half-century experience as a social scientist and a religious Zionist leads me to believe that his pardon would endorse his desire to escape responsibility, and undermine the moral standing of our country in the eyes of our citizens and the community of democratic nations.  It would reward his failure to accept remorse, and it would demonstrate to the citizens of Israel that we are not all equal under the law. The man who was in charge of the government longer than any other Prime Minister in Israel’s history will not escape the judgment of history and must not be allowed to do so with the help of a President,  whose moral stature I respect. I know you care very deeply about Israel. For this reason, you must not offer a pardon to this man whose actions have and continue to undermine democracy in Israel and have contributed to our becoming a pariah state among other democracies.

I trust you will make the moral and correct choice.

With respect and sincerely,