Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Donald Trump to continue assisting him in securing a pardon from President Isaac Herzog, during a phone call between the two leaders, US media reported on Tuesday.
The Monday phone call mainly focused on Gaza and Syria, the Axios news site reported, with Trump pressing Netanyahu to soften his current policies on the two areas.
Trump told Netanyahu he believed the pardon issue would ‘work out,’ but stopped short of committing to further action, two senior American officials told the Axios news site. Another US official said Netanyahu was hoping for additional intervention, but that Trump feels he has already done what he can.
During his visit to Israel in October, Trump called for Netanyahu to be given a pardon during an address to the Knesset. He followed it up with a letter to President Isaac Herzog urging him to grant clemency to Netanyahu.
Trump’s efforts drew widespread condemnation for inappropriately interfering in Israel’s internal affairs.
An Israeli official told Axios that it was Trump who first raised the issue of the pardon during the conversation. Both leaders agreed to revisit the matter in future calls or meetings.
The call came a day after Netanyahu formally requested a pardon from President Isaac Herzog in his corruption trial, without acknowledging guilt — a pardon Trump has personally backed, including in a public exhortation to Herzog in the Knesset in October and a subsequent letter.
Axios reported that the call quickly shifted to sensitive policy disputes.
On Gaza, Trump pressured Netanyahu to be ‘a better partner’ in advancing the next stages of the agreement. Netanyahu responded that he was ‘doing his best.’
Trump also pressed the prime minister on the standoff with Hamas operatives trapped in Rafah’s tunnels, questioning ‘why they were being killed rather than allowed to surrender,’ according to the American officials. Netanyahu reportedly replied that the terrorists were ‘armed and dangerous,’ and therefore being eliminated.
The matter of the trapped Hamas fighters has gone without resolution for nearly two months since the ceasefire went into effect in early October, as mediating countries have tried to negotiate terms for their safe passage back to Hamas-controlled areas.
According to a Channel 12 report last week, Israel conveyed a proposal to Hamas the week before that would allow the operatives to leave the tunnel, as long as they surrender and agree to be transferred to Israeli prisons.
Since the proposal was made, the operatives have not surrendered and have on multiple occasions emerged from tunnels in attempts to flee or attack IDF forces.
Israel has resisted giving the fighters unconditional free passage and has insisted that Hamas disarm, a key piece of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
On Syria, the officials told Axios that Trump voiced clear opposition to continued Israeli operations there, telling Netanyahu to ‘take it easy’ and avoid actions that could provoke the country’s new leadership.
‘The president told Netanyahu that the new leadership in Syria is trying to make it a better place,’ a US official said.
Following the call, Netanyahu appeared to soften his public tone on Syria, hinting that an agreement could be achievable in the near future, and suggesting he may travel to the White House soon to discuss the issues directly with Trump.
In a social media post, Trump warned Israel against destabilizing Syria and its new leadership and praised President Ahmed al-Sharaa, shortly before holding the call with Netanyahu.
Trump has been pushing for a security pact between Israel and Syria since Sharaa’s Islamist coalition overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad a year ago.
But tensions have risen over hundreds of strikes by Israel on Syria. In the deadliest so far, Israeli forces murdered 20 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, saying they targeted an ‘Islamist’ group.
Six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the gun battle. Israel said it set out to arrest two members of the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) terror organization, saying that intelligence information collected in recent weeks indicated that they were ‘planning attacks on Israel’.
Syria condemned the operation as a ‘war crime,’ saying that it denounced ‘the criminal aggression’ of the IDF and that such acts aim to ‘ignite the region’ in conflict.
The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria for nearly a year, since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. They are mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries. Two posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.
IDF Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) inside Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of ‘hostile forces.’