On Feb. 12, returning from a four-day visit to Australia, Israeli President Isaac Herzog publicly pushed back against a rare intervention by former U.S. President Donald Trump into Israel's legal affairs. When asked about Trump’s criticism that Herzog should feel “ashamed” for not pardoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog replied curtly: “As far as I know, I am the president of Israel.”
Trump had made the comments a day after meeting Netanyahu at the White House, saying the Israeli president “has the power… to issue a pardon and he didn’t do it,” and suggesting Herzog was reluctant because he would lose power. Herzog’s on-the-spot retort, delivered to reporters on the plane home, sought to reassert the institutional role of Israel’s presidency at a moment of heightened political pressure.
The exchange matters because it folds international personalities into a highly sensitive domestic legal process. Netanyahu, first indicted while serving as prime minister in 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust, faces potential sentences that include up to a decade in prison on the most serious counts. Under Israeli practice, the president can grant clemency only after the Justice Ministry completes its review and the office acts independently of external pressures.
The incident underscores wider strains in Israeli politics: a polarised electorate, a prime minister whose legal troubles intersect with coalition survival, and external allies ready to lobby on his behalf. It also raises questions about the limits of presidential authority in Israel, the politicisation of clemency, and the extent to which foreign leaders — especially one as polarising as Trump — can influence perceptions of domestic legal decisions.