'Cigars and champagne': The Netanyahu corruption case at the centre of Trump's pardon plea

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : In October, Trump delivered a speech at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to discuss his ceasefire plan for Gaza.
48% : In early 2023, shortly after Netanyahu began his current term as prime minister, his government proposed far-reaching judicial reforms, which sought to give the government more control over Israel's Supreme Court and weaken the power of the judiciary.
46% : Trump has repeatedly asked Israel's President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu on the charges, including last month during his Knesset speech.
43% : Netanyahu has also not been convicted of any crimes, meaning any pardon would be pre-emptive -- something there is little precedent of in Israel's history.
30% : Several of Netanyahu's critics within Israel, such as opposition leader Yair Lapid, accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war in Gaza for political reasons.
20% : Separate from his corruption cases in Israel, Netanyahu is also subject to an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, which alleged in 2024 that Netanyahu, alongside former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, bears criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to Israel's war in Gaza.
18% : Netanyahu, who is the first and only sitting prime minister in Israel's history to stand trial, has called the accusations "absurd and baseless", and -- drawing from Trump's dictionary -- labelled the cases a "relentless witch hunt".
17% : The proposed reforms sparked large-scale protests across Israel, which only came to an end after the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October and Israel's subsequent military offensive in Gaza.

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