Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday that he would support a presidential pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — but only if Netanyahu permanently withdraws from political life.

Bennett announced his position in a post on X/Twitter, framing the move as a necessary step to pull Israel back from the brink.

“In recent years, Israel has been led to chaos and to the brink of a civil war that threatens the very existence of the state,” Bennett wrote. “In order to extricate Israel from this chaos, I will support a binding agreement that includes a dignified withdrawal [for Netanyahu] from political life alongside the end of the trial.”

Such a deal, he argued, is the only way for Israeli society to “put it behind us, unite, and rehabilitate the State together.”

The extraordinary statement comes as Bennett is widely seen as a frontrunner in the opposition for the next election cycle, which must be held by October 2026. Polling consistently shows that Bennett could form a coalition capable of ousting Netanyahu.

But the timing is even more explosive: earlier Sunday, Netanyahu submitted a formal request for a presidential pardon to President Isaac Herzog, a move the President’s Office called “unusual” and carrying “significant implications.”

Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, delivered the request to the President’s Office, which has transferred it to the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department for professional evaluation. Once legal opinions are gathered, Herzog’s legal advisers will prepare recommendations before the president makes the final call.

Even as Bennett floated the idea of a negotiated exit, sources close to Netanyahu pushed back hard. Netanyahu will not agree to any plea deal or pardon arrangement that forces him out of politics, they told The Jerusalem Post.

“He is planning to run again in the next elections,” one source confirmed.

That position strikes at the heart of the years-long debate over Netanyahu’s corruption trial and the possibility of a plea bargain. A conviction with moral turpitude would bar him from politics — something Netanyahu has insisted he will never accept.

Sources close to the president say Herzog’s decision is at least two months away. The President’s Office emphasized that the request will be reviewed “responsibly and sincerely,” but noted that its unusual nature underscores its gravity.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)