Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, acting in place of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, on Tuesday submitted his position paper to President Isaac Herzog on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon, reportedly backing the move.

Eliyahu did not publicly announce his position, but the Haaretz daily quoted from the paper and said that he had concluded that Netanyahu should be pardoned to “enable the healing of the rifts” between the various groups within the nation.

Netanyahu is on trial for corruption in a long-running case that has roiled the country. Netanyahu and his supporters allege he is the target of  a politically motivated witch hunt. His opponents accuse him of trying to undermine the legal system in a bid to stay in power.

“I held a long series of consultations with intellectuals, security officials, rabbis, reservists who returned from the front, and jurists and influencers of public opinion,” Eliyahu reportedly wrote.

“I studied judgments and relevant legal materials concerning case law in Israel, as well as comparative law across the world — all in order to reach an accurate and correct decision,” the minister’s position paper read, according to Haaretz.

A statement put out by Herzog’s office in response thanked Eliyahu for the document, and added that he will not be swayed in his decision by external pressure “from any direction” — an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump, who has harshly criticized Herzog for failing to immediately grant the pardon.

Usually, the justice minister........

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