The Media Line: Herzog Explores Amnesty Option for Netanyahu, According to Walla Report

Herzog Explores Amnesty Option for Netanyahu, According to Walla Report

By Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line  

President Isaac Herzog has recently brought up, in private talks, the idea of an arrangement that could help bring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial to a close, according to Israel’s Walla news site. People familiar with those conversations say nothing formal has been drafted at this stage.  

What is being explored, they say, is whether there is any political room for a deal that would combine some form of legal relief with Netanyahu stepping away from public life. Variations of this idea have circulated before, but they have never translated into anything concrete.  

Walla’s reporting does not indicate that Netanyahu has signed off on any such move, and there is no clear sign of direct negotiations at this point.  

There was no immediate response following the report. The President’s Residence declined to comment, while Netanyahu’s office did not issue a statement.  

Over the past few years, Herzog has returned more than once to the same concern: that the tension between Israel’s political leadership and its legal system is not easing, but building. People who have spoken with Herzog recently say the talks are being approached cautiously. At this stage, they describe them less as an initiative and more as an attempt to see whether the current deadlock can be eased.  

The timing is hard to ignore. Israel remains in an active confrontation alongside the United States against Iran, with missile and drone attacks continuing to hit civilian areas. Even so, the internal debate over leadership, and over Netanyahu’s trial, has not disappeared. It has simply moved into quieter channels.  

The case itself continues to divide Israeli society. Netanyahu’s supporters argue the charges are politically driven. His critics, including former senior legal officials, warn that intervening in the process would come at a cost to the rule of law. 
Walla reports that several variations of such an arrangement have come up in recent contacts. Among them are the possibility of a presidential pardon, either before the legal process concludes or at a later stage, as well as options that would link any form of legal relief to Netanyahu stepping away from political life. The question of a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7 attacks has also surfaced in these conversations, though not as a defined condition, but as part of the broader context in which these ideas are being discussed.  

Inside the political system, where the idea has begun to circulate, there is no uniform response. Some see it as a potential way to close a long and destabilizing chapter. Others view it as a step that should not be taken, regardless of circumstances.  

For now, what Walla describes remains limited to quiet conversations. Nothing concrete has taken shape, and it is not yet certain whether the idea will go any further. Even so, the fact that it is being raised again points to how Israel’s internal political questions have yet to find resolution, despite the ongoing regional war.