Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appeal for a presidential pardon is more than a personal legal manoeuvre. It is a political act with consequences that may reshape Israel’s already fragile balance between democratic norms and the power of elected office. The request, framed as a call for national reconciliation, comes after five years of a corruption trial that has divided the country and defined much of its recent political discourse. Yet, the timing and framing of this plea cannot be separated from the climate in which it lands: an Israel still haunted by domestic polarisation, a grinding conflict in Gaza, and unresolved tensions over judicial reform.

Mr Netanyahu’s argument ~ that ending the trial would douse internal flames and restore unity ~ rests on an inversion of responsibility. Rather than admit that the country’s divisions stem partly from his own political tactics over the past decade, he now casts the judicial process itself........

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