Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday turned to an international audience in a video to explain his request for a pardon, calling his ongoing trial a “farce” that is “costing the country a lot.”
The trial now boils down to charges that his son was gifted with a Bugs Bunny doll 29 years ago and that he received cigars from a friend, he said.
“You wanted to know what this trial is about? This is what this trial is about: Bugs Bunny and cigars. … From now on this trial will be known as the ‘Bugs Bunny Trial,’” Netanyahu said.
The case alleging bribery for favorable coverage in a “second-rate Internet site,” Netanyahu maintained, has collapsed since the trial began. “It turns out that I didn’t get favorable press coverage—I got unfavorable press coverage. The most hateful, antagonistic, negative press coverage you can imagine in Israel,” he said.
The prosecutors, the premier said, refused to drop these charges despite the request of the judges, because it is “a political trial and they’re not interested in justice, they’re interested in getting me out of office.”
Netanyahu called the charges that are left “absurd” and lamented the fact that the affair has been going on for 10 years, with “six years of bogus investigations of these idiotic charges,” and four years of trial, which could stretch for another two to three years.
“This farce is costing the country a lot. There are big things to do. There are peace treaties to get. There’s AI and other technologies that are amazing that could change Israel, could change the Middle East, could change the world. That’s what we do best in Israel. … So I asked for a pardon and we’ll see if it [comes to fruition],” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said.
I want to share something with you >> pic.twitter.com/cLFxWI6igh
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 4, 2025
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Nov. 30 that Netanyahu had submitted a formal request for a pardon.
“The Office of the President is aware that this is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications,” Herzog’s office stated.
“After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the president will responsibly and sincerely consider the request,” it added.
U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter to Herzog requesting a full pardon for Netanyahu, the Israeli president said on Nov. 12.
Speaking to Politico in an interview published on Dec. 6, Herzog said that he respects the U.S. president but that “Israel, naturally, is a sovereign country.
“There is a process which goes through the Justice Ministry and my legal adviser and so on,” Herzog continued. “This is certainly an extraordinary request and above all when dealing with it I will consider what is the best interest of the Israeli people. The well-being of the Israeli people is my first, second and third priority.”
Asked whether he was concerned about how Trump might react if he does not pardon Netanyahu, the Israeli president replied: “I really don’t think I should discuss such an issue publicly. Our relations with President Trump and with his administration are warm, frank and open. We should see it in the right context, and not immediately go to all sorts of doomsday analysis.”
Netanyahu faces corruption charges in three cases—Cases 1000 and 2000 (the charge is “breach of trust” in both instances), and Case 4000 (bribery, fraud and breach of trust).
