To avert the threats and realize the opportunities, national unity is required, he said in a video statement, The Times of Israel reports.
Netanyahu's trial has been ongoing for several years. He is being investigated for fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three separate cases. The charges include receiving expensive gifts - including champagne bottles and cigars. The crimes have links to Qatar.
Promote reconciliation
Netanyahu says in the video message that he would like to continue the trial. He believes it would clear him. But that the “interest of the nation” demands otherwise, as the country is “being torn apart from within.”
An immediate end to the trial would greatly lower the temperature and promote broad reconciliation – something our country desperately needs.
The actual clemency application to President Isaac Herzog consists of a document from Netanyahu's lawyer and a personal letter.
The Department of Justice will now collect evidence and then make a recommendation to Herzog, according to a statement from the President's Office.
"The Presidency is aware that this is an extraordinary request that carries significant consequences," the office writes.
Herzog will take a position on the matter "responsibly and honestly" once all legal requirements are on the table.
Cheered on by Trump
Netanyahu's move immediately drew criticism from the opposition. Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats, said in a comment that "only the guilty apply for clemency," writes Haaretz .
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, in turn, says in a video that the president “cannot pardon Netanyahu without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate retirement from political life.”
US President Donald Trump has cheered Netanyahu and, among other things, urged Isaac Herzog in a letter to "fully pardon" him.
The Israeli president has the power to pardon primarily those who have already been convicted. But he can also do so before the sentence is carried out if it is deemed to be in the public interest, writes The Times of Israel.
