The pardons department of the Justice Ministry has determined that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon over his indictments on corruption charges do not meet the relevant conditions and requirements, Hebrew media reported Wednesday.

The Justice Ministry announced earlier Wednesday that the pardons department has completed its legal position paper on Netanyahu’s request and has passed it to Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu.

Eliyahu was delegated by Justice Minister Yariv Levin to conduct the bureaucratic process involved in sending the position paper to President Isaac Herzog, due to concerns Levin might have a conflict of interest in being involved.

Levin, and by extension Eliyahu, does not have any formal authority over the pardon process but is entitled to review the position paper before transmitting it to the president’s office, and to add his own recommendation.

Netanyahu is currently standing trial on charges of bribery, and fraud and breach of trust, after being indicted in 2020.

According to a report by the Ynet news site, the pardons department determined that it was difficult to grant Netanyahu a pardon since his trial is ongoing and he has not yet been convicted, and he did not admit guilt or express remorse for his actions in his pardon request.

The Justice Ministry did not respond to request for comment on the content of the pardons department’s position paper.

The High Court of Justice has previously ruled that pardons can in theory be issued before a conviction, but only when the person making the request has admitted to the crimes for which they have asked to be pardoned. Such an admission can be seen as a kind of de facto conviction, allowing the president to issue a pardon.

Following receipt of the position paper, Eliyahu tried to assert that the pardon request merited consideration.

“Now that the professional basis has been laid out, I have begun a series of in-depth consultations with the relevant parties in order to formulate my final and reasoned position, before forwarding my recommendation to the president,” wrote Eliyahu on X.

“This is a request of high public significance, one that requires professional, serious, and impartial handling,” he added.

The minister processing the pardon request can add their recommendation to the pardons department’s legal position paper, usually adopting the position of the department.

Both those documents are then passed to the president’s legal adviser, who draws up their own position paper, which is then passed on to the president himself for a final decision.

The president accepts the recommendations of the pardons department in the large majority of cases, although he does have the discretion to reject its advice.

US President Donald Trump has placed heavy pressure on Herzog to grant Netanyahu a pardon. The president has responded that he will make the decision free of external influence.

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