JERUSALEM: Israel’s opposition leader on Thursday criticized US President Donald Trump for saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial should be canceled, warning him against interfering in internal affairs.
Trump on Wednesday described the case against Netanyahu as a “witch hunt,” echoing the Israeli premier’s dismissal of the corruption charges which he has flatly rejected.
In a message on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the Netanyahu trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero,” after the end of a 12-day war with Iran.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said in an interview with news website Ynet: “We are thankful to President Trump, but... the president should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country.”
Lapid, of the center-right Yesh Atid party, backed a statement by one of Netanyahu’s coalition allies, Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionism party, who called for Trump to stay out of the court case.
