Don’t Cry for Me, Israel—Just Grant Me a Pardon, And Let the Autocracy Begin
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in his corruption cases, and the accompanying video posted on X, feel as though he is crooning his own Evita, performing his personal rendition of the musical’s central ballad:
It won't be easy, you'll think it's strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I've done.
You won’t believe it’s that same boy you know,
Who, despite his glittering clothes, is simple, and still yours.
All the joy and the glory—I never asked for them.
Don't cry for me, Israel, I have never abandoned you.
I was yours, and believe me—I swore only to you. Do not forsake me.
But look at me, and you’ll immediately know that every word is true.
In both his request and his video—and unlike the pardon in the controversial “Kav 300” affair, in which Shin Bet members executed two Palestinian bus hijackers and later admitted their actions—Netanyahu makes no admission whatsoever.
In the video, he explains that he doesn’t really want a pardon at all; he wants to see the legal proceedings through to the end, now that the “cases have collapsed.” He says he decided to request a pardon not for himself but for the sake of all Israelis—so that he can unite and reconcile the nation. Personally, he would prefer to spend three days a week in the courtroom, he says, but against his wishes he is prepared to cancel the trial in the name of the public interest, so that he can continue serving us and advancing plans with President Donald Trump.
According to Basic Law: The President (Section 11(b)), President Herzog has the authority “to pardon offenders and to lighten sentences by reducing or commuting them.”
The prevailing legal interpretation is that “offenders” refers to those who have been convicted (even if they insist on their innocence) or those who have admitted to committing offences.
By contrast, the request submitted by Netanyahu’s attorneys focuses on the overriding public interest in granting a pardon and on claims of his innocence. In other words, the “offenders” who ought to admit guilt, according to this narrative, are those within the law-enforcement system who “stitched up” baseless cases against him and against the public interest. Perhaps Netanyahu is counting on his attacks on the Supreme Court to produce a novel legal interpretation in his case.
According to both the request and the video, Netanyahu is not a dictator in the making—he already possesses the mentality of one. He is completely detached from reality and genuinely believes that there is absolute identity between himself and the state and its citizens, with no law or court standing above him.
Legally, the request is absurd.
If President Herzog ultimately yields to pressure—from Netanyahu, from President Trump, who personally reached out to Herzog and posted on Truth Social that the cases against Netanyahu are a “witch hunt,” or from the “poison machine” on social media—he will effectively sign the burial certificate of Israel’s judicial system and grant official legitimacy to a full-fledged Netanyahu dictatorship.
Eitay Mack is a human rights lawyer and activist based in Jerusalem.
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