Trump Demands Netanyahu's Trial Be Cancelled

Fresh off striking Iranian nuclear facilities together with Israel, US President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial.

“BREAKING NEWS… I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on Truth Social.

The unprecedented intervention in the Israeli justice system by an American president came as the cross-examination of Netanyahu, which began earlier this month, was due to resume after being halted while courts went on emergency footing amid the war with Iran, with only urgent proceedings taking place.

The US president said that he and Netanyahu “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.”

“Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos! Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel,” Trump claimed. “The result was something that nobody thought was possible, a complete elimination of potentially one of the biggest and most powerful Nuclear Weapons anywhere in the World, and it was going to happen, SOON! We were fighting, literally, for the Survival of Israel, and there is nobody in Israel’s History that fought harder or more competently than Bibi Netanyahu.”

Trump denounced the case against Netanyahu as “politically motivated,” saying the prime minister has gone through a “Horror Show” since the trial began in 2020.

“Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me,” said Trump, echoing both Netanyahu’s rhetoric about the trial and his own regarding the criminal cases and legal challenges he has faced.

“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 continued.

“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. THIS TRAVESTY OF ‘JUSTICE’ CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!” he concluded.

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu on Trump’s statement. A spokesperson for the prime minister’s Likud party shared a Hebrew translation of it on X.

Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and charges of bribery, as well as fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000.

In Case 1000, he is charged with fraud and breach of trust surrounding allegations that he and his wife Sara received expensive gifts illicitly from Hollywood media mogul Arnon Milchan worth some NIS 700,000 and that Netanyahu violated conflict of interest laws when he provided Milchan with assistance in renewing his long-term US residency visa and sought to help him with tax issues.

In Case 2000, the prime minister is accused of fraud and breach of trust over his alleged attempt to reach a quid pro quo agreement with the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Arnon (Noni) Mozes, whereby Yedioth would give the prime minister more positive media coverage in exchange for legislation weakening its key rival, the Israel Hayom free sheet.

Case 4000, also known as the Bezeq-Walla case, is the most serious case the prime minister faces, in which he is accused of authorizing regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels. In return, Netanyahu allegedly received favorable media coverage from the Walla news site, which Elovitch also owned.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and says all the charges were fabricated in a political coup led by the police and state prosecution.