Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves a pardon, adding that the corruption charges against him never should have been filed.

President Donald Trump has called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to issue a pardon, saying that the prosecution undermines national unity as Israel waged war on multiple fronts. In an appearance on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Dershowitz said that the charges against the Israeli leader are politically driven and should never have gone to trial, especially amid a multi-front war.

“Of course, he should be pardoned. He never should have been indicted in the first place,” Dershowitz said. “I have been advising Prime Minister Netanyahu on both these legal issues, on the domestic legal issue as well as on the International Criminal Court. And the cases against him are nonexistent. They’re much like the cases against Donald Trump in New York.”

Dershowitz dismissed the suggestion that it would be inappropriate for Trump to suggest a pardon, saying that Herzog, despite his political background, now represents all Israelis.

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“I can easily understand why President Trump could be sympathetic too. But the idea that a country puts on trial its prime minister, while its prime minister is waging a five-front war, is absolutely absurd,” Dershowitz said. “When I was in Israel, I went to see the attorney general, and I urged her to make a deal to drop the cases. I met with other people and urged them to drop the case, at least postpone it until after the war was over. But, no, politics prevails over justice, often in Israel, as it does in the United States.”

Dershowitz defended Trump’s call for a pardon.

“I’m hoping that maybe even though it was off the cuff, and even though some people have argued this is inappropriate for the president of the United States to tell the president of Israel what to do, the President of Israel is a great guy, Isaac Herzog. I’ve known him for years. And I think he will want to do the right thing,” Dershowitz said.

“He’s not a member of the Labor Party when he’s the president. He’s the president of all Israelis, even though he did run for prime minister as a member of the Labor Party. So I’m hoping he’ll do the right thing. Look, this was a great day today for the Palestinian people, for the Arabs in the Gulf area, for the Israelis. It was only a bad day for those who want to destroy Israel.”

Dershowitz called it a great day, pointing to Hamas releasing the last 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday under the peace deal brokered by Trump to end the Israel-Hamas war. In one of the most emotional moments, 32-year-old Avinatan Or embraced his girlfriend, 28-year-old Noa Argamani, for the first time since terrorists abducted them during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November 2024, accusing him of war crimes tied to Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The move places Netanyahu at risk of arrest in 124 countries that recognize the court’s jurisdiction, including key Western allies.

Herzog denounced the ICC’s decision as a display of “bad faith,” saying it’s “a dark day for justice.” The U.S., which does not recognize the Rome Statute, is unlikely to detain Netanyahu. Other Western nations may follow suit, as the ICC relies entirely on member states to enforce its warrants.

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