Trump calls Netanyahu’s corruption trial ‘witch hunt’

US President Donald Trump called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be cancelled, calling it a “ridiculous Witch Hunt”, in an unprecedented intervention into Israel’s domestic affairs.

Trump, who is widely popular in Israel, wrote on his Truth Social media platform that Netanyahu’s five-year trial was a “TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE” and “CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!”

“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 added.

Netanyahu’s corruption trial has been regularly delayed since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. The attack triggered a devastating years-long Israeli war on Gaza that Israel expanded into a regional war. 

Many analysts say Netanyahu has tied his political survival to continuing the regional war, particularly in Gaza, where Israeli troops continue to occupy land and engage Palestinian fighters.

Trump’s comments on the corruption trial come as his administration turns its focus from Israel’s “12-day war” with Iran, back to Gaza.

“I think great progress is being made on Gaza,” Trump told reporters at the Nato summit in The Hague, Netherlands. “I think we’re going to have some very good news.” 

 

On Thursday, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster said Trump’s post “wasn’t sent out for no reason” and was part of an effort to end the war in Gaza. 

“It is part of a larger move that is meant to bring an end to the war in Gaza, the release of all the hostages, an end to Netanyahu’s trial, and a serious regional move,” Kan cited an Israeli official as saying. 

More than 56,0000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s offensive, and the besieged enclave is on the verge of famine. Israel has allowed a trickle of aid into the enclave through a programme controlled by an American private military contracting firm that has led to at least 549 Palestinian aid-seekers being killed. 

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has denied any wrongdoing in the trial, which began in May 2020.

In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favourable coverage in two Israeli media outlets.

In one case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods, including cigars, jewellery, and champagne, from billionaires in exchange for political favours.

Trump’s intervention comes after a whirlwind week which saw the US launch strikes on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities. In return, Iran choreographed a retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar. Then Trump brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.

Trump lashed out at Israel and Iran on Tuesday as his ceasefire appeared to falter, saying the two foes “have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing”. 

Trump said he was especially mad at Israel, which he said “unloaded” bombs on Iran because of an Iranian rocket “that didn’t land anywhere”, adding, “I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now.”

After warning Israel to turn its bombers around, Trump thanked Israel. He also profusely thanked Iran for giving the US advance warning about its retaliatory strike.

Trump’s intervention on behalf of Netanyahu could boost the Israeli leader at home.

According to a Pew Poll released in June before Israel’s attack on Iran, 73 percent of Jewish Israelis said they had confidence in Trump. However, Israelis are deeply divided, especially over internal differences such as ultra-Orthodox conscription into the army and the country’s judicial crisis that had consumed the public before 7 October 2023.

One of Netanyahu’s coalition allies, Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionism party, called for Trump to stay out of Netanyahu’s court case.

“It is not the role of the president of the United States to interfere in legal proceedings in the State of Israel,” said Rothman, who chairs the Israeli parliament’s judicial affairs committee.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it was “distorted, unreasonable, contrary to the basic sense of justice” to continue Netanyahu’s trial while Israel is at war, also backing Trump’s call to drop the charges.