Netanyahu’s Trial Hits 6.5 Years With No Verdict Date as His Pardon Request Sits Unresolved

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, now six and a half years old, sat in court five days a week through Israel’s election week, as his lawyers questioned the former attorney general who indicted him. His pardon request, filed in November 2025, remains undecided, and the case has no verdict date while he fights to keep his job.

The proceedings at the Jerusalem District Court continued on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 with testimony from Avichai Mandelblit, the attorney general who approved the investigations into Netanyahu and later decided to charge him. Netanyahu denies all charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Mandelblit on the stand

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, defense lawyer Amit Hadad argued that Mandelblit’s signature on the indictment had been copied from an earlier document sent to the Knesset speaker, which the defense called a draft, the Jerusalem Post reported. Prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh said the earlier document was the indictment itself and that moving a signature between documents was standard practice. “Clearly, the indictment was filed with my approval,” Mandelblit said. The judges ordered prosecutors to hand over full records of the meetings at which Mandelblit approved the investigations, by Thursday if possible, so the court can decide whether to disclose them to the defense.

Hadad said he planned to argue that the handling of the case justifies canceling the indictment on grounds of unfairness. A day earlier, Mandelblit testified that, to the best of his recollection, he had not authorized a broader police inquiry into Netanyahu’s ties to the newspaper Israel Hayom. “To the best of my knowledge, I did not authorize investigating that line” of inquiry, he said, according to the Post. He said his approval centered on recorded conversations between Netanyahu and Yedioth Aharonoth publisher Arnon Mozes.

The defense’s room to explore those questions is limited. On Oct. 28, the day after the election, the three-judge panel ruled 2-1 to confine Mandelblit’s testimony to the approvals he gave for the investigations. Presiding Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman and Judge Oded Shaham formed the majority. Judge Moshe Bar-Am dissented, questioning how the court could disregard testimony about alleged unlawful investigative steps, the Post reported.

The three cases

• Case 1000: expensive gifts Netanyahu allegedly received from businessmen Arnon Milchan and James Packer, and steps he allegedly took to benefit Milchan.
• Case 2000: talks with Mozes about favorable coverage in exchange for moves against rival paper Israel Hayom.
• Case 4000: allegations that Netanyahu advanced regulations benefiting Bezeq’s then-controlling shareholder, Shaul Elovitch, in return for favorable coverage on Elovitch’s Walla news site. This is the bribery count.

Where the pardon request stands

Netanyahu asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon in November 2025 without admitting guilt, arguing that the trial was tearing the country apart. In March, the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department concluded that a pardon would be improper while he maintained his innocence, and said there would first need to be an admission of guilt, a resignation or a conviction, The New York Times reported. The President’s Office says clemency requests are generally considered only after legal proceedings end.

Herzog then said he would not rule on the request and instead invited Netanyahu and prosecutors to his residence to try to broker a settlement, the Associated Press reported. In May, public broadcaster Kan reported that Herzog had frozen the request after Netanyahu did not respond to that invitation. In February, U.S. President Donald Trump said Herzog “should be ashamed of himself” for not granting a pardon. Trump has weighed in on other Israel matters this fall, including his statement that U.S. payments to Israel will stop after 2026.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, a Likud member, wrote to Herzog on Oct. 11 urging a pardon after Mandelblit’s first day of testimony. “This conduct, which exposes a series of omissions, failures and violations of the law, cannot end merely with dramatic reports across the media,” he wrote. The letter has no formal legal effect, and the Post noted that Ohana’s description of the testimony went beyond what had been established in court.

By the numbers: how long the trial has run

By a Boston Report calculation, the trial opened in May 2020, about six years and five months ago. Netanyahu took the stand in December 2024 and finished in June after 98 hearings, about a year and a half, making him the defense’s first witness. The pardon request has been pending for roughly 12 months.

The court moved to hearings Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in October, over objections from both sides, the Post reported. The reason is the calendar: Friedman-Feldman is expected to retire in March 2028, when she turns 70, which leaves about 16 months for the remaining defense witnesses, the cases of Netanyahu’s three co-defendants, closing arguments and a written verdict.

Why it matters now

The trial and the coalition fight are now running at the same time. While Herzog weighs the pardon file, he is also deciding who gets the first chance to form a government, and parties holding more seats have so far lined up behind challenger Gadi Eisenkot, as our report on Israel’s coalition talks lays out. The outcome of those talks will decide whether Netanyahu keeps facing the court as prime minister or from the opposition benches. The certified results that set this up are covered in our Israel election results report.

Sources

• Jerusalem Post: Mandelblit challenged over indictment signature
• Jerusalem Post: Mandelblit pressed on possible police overreach in Case 2000
• Jerusalem Post: Court limits Mandelblit testimony scope
• New York Times: Pardoning Netanyahu now would be improper, key Israeli office says
• Associated Press: Israel president offers to mediate Netanyahu corruption case

Additional sources

• Jerusalem Post: Netanyahu trial accelerates with five-day weekly hearing schedule
• Jerusalem Post: Ohana urges Herzog to pardon Netanyahu in letter with no formal legal basis
• Times of Israel: Ohana urges president to pardon PM after Mandelblit testimony
• Haredim 10: Herzog froze processing of Netanyahu’s pardon request (citing Kan)