Following joint strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities alongside Israel, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial.
“BREAKING NEWS… I was stunned to learn that the State of Israel — having just experienced one of its greatest historic victories and being powerfully led by Bibi Netanyahu — is still continuing this absurd witch hunt against its great wartime Prime Minister!” Trump wrote in an extended post on Truth Social.
This unprecedented move by a U.S. president to interfere in Israel’s judicial process came just as Netanyahu’s cross-examination — which began earlier this month — was set to resume. The trial had been temporarily paused after Israeli courts shifted to emergency operations during the war with Iran, allowing only urgent legal matters to proceed.
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 will be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu. THIS MOCKERY OF ‘JUSTICE’ MUST NOT BE ALLOWED!” Trump concluded.
There was no immediate response from Netanyahu regarding Trump’s remarks. A spokesperson for the prime minister’s Likud party posted a Hebrew translation of Trump’s statement on X.
Netanyahu is currently on trial in three separate corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and bribery, along with fraud and breach of trust, in Case 4000.
In Case 1000, Netanyahu is accused of fraud and breach of trust involving allegations that he and his wife Sara accepted expensive gifts worth around NIS 700,000 from Hollywood media mogul Arnon Milchan illegally. Additionally, Netanyahu is alleged to have violated conflict of interest laws by assisting Milchan in renewing his long-term US residency visa and offering help with tax matters.
Case 2000 charges the prime minister with fraud and breach of trust over an alleged attempt to strike a quid pro quo deal with Arnon (Noni) Mozes, the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. The deal supposedly involved Yedioth providing Netanyahu with more favorable media coverage in exchange for legislation aimed at weakening its major competitor, the free newspaper Israel Hayom.
Case 4000, also known as the Bezeq-Walla affair, is the most serious of the cases. Netanyahu is accused of approving regulatory decisions that financially benefited Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq telecommunications, by hundreds of millions of shekels. In return, Netanyahu allegedly received positive media coverage from the Walla news website, which was also owned by Elovitch.
