Netanyahu Just Admitted He’s Unfit to Lead Israel

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2025/12/netanyahu-pardon-request-israel/685116/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo

Posted by theatlantic

6 comments

  1. Yair Rosenberg: “For the past five years, Benjamin Netanyahu has been on trial for corruption, accused of accepting lavish gifts in exchange for political favors and of using his influence to pressure media moguls into giving him more favorable coverage. On Sunday, the Israeli leader formally asked the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, to let him off the hook, requesting a pardon before the court had even reached a verdict on the allegations. The brazen gambit immediately provoked sharp responses within Israel. But one of the most shocking aspects of the prime minister’s ploy was largely overlooked.

    “Netanyahu’s entreaty to Herzog was carefully worded to avoid any admission of criminality or wrongdoing, aside from a vague reference to feeling responsible for the legal proceedings stoking ‘tensions and disputes’ within Israel. ‘The prime minister will not admit guilt,’ his aides bluntly told the media. But the official pardon request from Netanyahu’s lawyer, as well as a video message released by Netanyahu justifying it, did something just as damning: It acknowledged that Netanyahu has been incapable of fully performing the duties of his position, even as he hung on to the job anyway.

    “‘Granting this request will allow the prime minister to devote all of his time, abilities, and energy to advancing Israel in these critical times and to dealing with the challenges and opportunities that lie before it,’ wrote Amit Hadad, Netanyahu’s lawyer, implying that until now, his client had been unable to do so. ‘I am required to testify three times a week,’ Netanyahu griped in his video posted to social media soon afterward. ‘This is an impossible requirement that no other citizen in Israel is subjected to.’ The prime minister maintained his innocence in the clip, and insisted that he was willing to fight his charges to ‘full acquittal.’ But in fact, the claims made by Netanyahu and his lawyer confirm the very thing that the premier’s trial fundamentally sought to prove: that he has been unfit to serve as Israel’s prime minister.”

    Read more: [https://theatln.tc/NBpMoMsG](https://theatln.tc/NBpMoMsG)

  4. When a motion was brought to the Supreme Court right after he was elected saying exactly this, he swore up and down the legal precedings would not interfere with his ability to act as prime minister.

    It seems like the king, in his infinite glory and compassion , is allowing us to drop the charges so he MIGHT hold his online war dogs back.

    Imo Herzogbis a fool for even entertaining this. 

  5. You guys aren’t being held captive by anyone but yourselves.

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