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Donald Trump has called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial to be cancelled, branding it a “ridiculous Witch Hunt” and expressing shock that it is continuing despite Israel’s war with Iran.
In his latest intervention in the judicial processes of an allied country, the US president praised Netanyahu for the way the two men had worked together during the recent 12-day war, and dismissed his five-year-old trial as a “TRAVESTY OF “JUSTICE”, which “CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!”
“Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me. He deserves much better than this, and so does the State of Israel. Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to Netanyahu by his childhood nickname.
“Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land.”
Netanyahu has been on trial since May 2020 and is facing charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three complex, overlapping criminal cases focused on his relationships with wealthy business people. He has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
This is not the first time Trump has intervened in foreign legal cases. When Marine Le Pen, the far-right French politician, was convicted of embezzlement in March and disqualified from standing in elections, Trump condemned what he called a “Witch Hunt” and posted “FREE MARINE LE PEN!” even though she was not in jail.
Trump also imposed sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court after it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes”.
In his latest 350-word post on Netanyahu, Trump echoed the Israeli prime minister’s criticisms of the corruption trial, which he summarised as “concerning cigars, a Bugs Bunny doll, and numerous other unfair charges”, and pledged to “save” the Israeli premier.
“Perhaps there is no one that I know who could have worked in better harmony with the President of the United States, ME, than Bibi Netanyahu. It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s effusive post came two days after he publicly berated the Israeli leadership for breaching the ceasefire he had brokered between Israel and Iran, and underscored the mercurial nature of his relationship with Netanyahu.
While Trump ultimately delighted Israel’s leadership by joining its war against Iran, dispatching B2 stealth fighters to drop bunker-busting bombs on the underground Fordow nuclear site, he has taken other decisions that have left daylight between him and the Israeli premier.
This year, he agreed to end a US bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, without requiring them to stop firing missiles at Israel. He also held talks with Iran on its nuclear programme despite Israeli objections, and toured the Middle East without visiting Israel.
Netanyahu’s allies were quick to welcome Trump’s words, with communications minister Shlomo Karhi saying that while he would “be happy to see Netanyahu continue to crush the political prosecution in the trial — this show has long since cost us in national security”.
“Every word!” he added, as he reposted Trump’s Truth Social text.
Other members of Netanyahu’s coalition expressed concerns about Trump’s intervention, with Simcha Rothman, head of the constitution, law and justice committee, writing on X that “it is not the role of the US president to interfere in legal proceedings in the State of Israel”.
But Rothman added that, “at the core of the matter”, Trump was right, and called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to stop the trial.
Yair Lapid, head of the largest opposition party, Yesh Atid, said he assumed Trump had made his remarks as a sop to Netanyahu because he was about to ratchet up the pressure on the Israeli premier to end the 20-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza — something hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition bitterly oppose.
“I assume this is compensation [Trump] is giving [Netanyahu] because he is going to bend him on the Gaza issue,” Lapid said in an interview with Ynet.
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