Trump says Netanyahu’s corruption trial should be cancelled

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Israel to cancel the ongoing corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump said that he was “shocked to hear” that Israel was “continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!”

The US president, who had faced four separate cases leading up to his 2024 election, has often used the phrase “witch hunt” to refer to his own legal woes.

Trump had high praise for Netanyahu, calling him a warrior, and mocked the trial against him, characterizing it as a “Horror Show” which is “politically motivated” and concerns “cigars, a Bugs Bunny doll, and numerous other unfair charges.”

He called for the proceedings to “be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State.”

“It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu. THIS TRAVESTY OF ‘JUSTICE’ CAN NOT BE ALLOWED,” Trump wrote.

The trial against Netanyahu has been going on for more than five years. The Israeli premier is charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribery, surrounding his alleged granting of favours to the telecommunications giant Bezeq while he was communications minister.

Netanyahu is also alleged to have accepted luxury gifts from billionaire friends. Netanyahu has always denied the allegations and said he had been the victim of a “witch hunt.”

This is the first time that a sitting prime minister has been brought to trial in Israel. The trial could last several years.

Trump himself is a convicted felon, having been found guilty on 34 counts in a New York state court for falsifying business records.

He faced two other federal cases, one surrounding the January 6 violence at the Capitol and the other involving willfully keeping classified national defence information and making false statements, among other charges. Those were dismissed when he became president.

A fourth trial is a state case in Georgia in the south-east. It involves allegations of election interference in that state’s presidential vote in 2020. That case is pending with no dates currently set for future hearings.