US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and backed US President Donald Trump’s call for the legal proceedings to be thrown out or for the Israeli leader to be pardoned.
Huckabee told reporters in Tel Aviv that his unusual decision to be present for the trial was “a matter of representing what the president [Trump] has said repeatedly”.
“The president has made his position very clear. He has not intervened in the proceedings or in the outcome,” Huckabee said. “He recognises that has to go its own way. But it’s a personal thing for him. He considers the prime minister a friend.”
Huckabee described the bond between Netanyahu and Trump “extraordinary”, adding that it was strengthened by the Israeli leader’s recent visit to Washington.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases — all of which he denies. Israel’s prime minister has painted the trial against him as a deliberate left-wing witch-hunt.
Trump has urged Israel to drop the case or “pardon” Netanyahu, claiming the trial could hinder the Israeli’s leader ability to negotiate with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In a post on Truth Social last month, Trump called the case against Netanyahu a “witch hunt,” a phrase he often used to describe investigations into his own legal troubles in the US, adding: “This travesty of justice cannot be allowed.”
In response, Netanyahu thanked Trump “for your moving support for me and your tremendous support for Israel”.
Although Netanyahu’s have allies welcomed Trump’s comments, Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid said the US president should avoid interfering in a foreign trial.
“With all due respect to Trump, he should not interfere in a legal process in an independent country,” he told domestic media.
Among the charges against Netanyahu, he and his wife are accused of accepting more than $260,000 (€223, 797) in luxury goods — including pink champagne and cigars — in return for political favours.
In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to exchange regulatory favours with media owners in Israel for positive media coverage in two Israeli news outlets.
The Israeli leader has requested multiple postponements to the trial since it began in 2020, citing the need to deal with Israel’s war in Gaza and the fallout of the deadly 7 October Hamas attack.
