No, Netanyahu wasn’t behind Trump’s tongue-lashing of Herzog
Casting aspersions on the prime minister’s trip to Washington is par for the “anybody but Bibi” propagandists.
JNS
Feb 16, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb 11, 2026
Those who claim that Benjamin Netanyahu
pushed Donald Trump to rant against Isaac Herzog either haven’t been
paying attention to the personalities of the U.S. president and Israeli
prime minister, or are simply engaging in typical “anybody but Bibi”
propaganda.
Here, a recap of the event in
question—which caused the anti-Netanyahu punditry to salivate with
self-satisfied outrage—is in order.
Less than a week after negotiations took
place in Oman on Feb. 6 between representatives of the American
administration and the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu paid an urgent visit
to the White House.
The talks had ended without a resolution,
as Tehran was adamant that if a deal were to be reached with Washington,
it would focus solely on Iran’s nuclear program. Nevertheless, the
sides agreed to resume dialogue in the near future—the date now set for
Feb. 17 in Geneva.
Netanyahu’s whirlwind trip to D.C. was a
direct result of the above. Though the two leaders didn’t issue a joint
statement at the conclusion of their closed-door, three-hour meeting,
Netanyahu addressed reporters the following morning—on Feb. 12—before
boarding the “Wings of Zion” plane to return home.
“I have just concluded a short but
important visit to Washington, in talks with our great friend President
Trump. We have a very close relationship, very genuine and very open,”
he said in Hebrew. “Of course, the discussions focused on a number of
issues, but essentially on the negotiations with Iran. The president …
wanted to hear my opinion. I won’t hide from you that I expressed
general skepticism about the value of any agreement with Iran. But I
said that if an agreement is indeed reached, it must include elements
that are very important from … Israel’s standpoint, and, in my view, not
only Israel’s.”
He went on, “It’s not just the nuclear
issue; it’s also the ballistic missiles and the Iranian proxies. That
essentially exhausted the conversation … though, of course, it also
touched on Gaza, the region as a whole and other general matters.”
Finally, he said, “In any case, it was
another conversation with a tremendous friend of the State of Israel,
the likes of which we haven’t ever had.”
Hours later, Trump gave a press conference
that caused Netanyahu’s detractors to perk up with glee. But not
because the U.S. president said something negative about his Israeli
counterpart. On the contrary, what he did was to launch into a tirade
against Herzog.
“I think that man should be ashamed of
himself [for not issuing Netanyahu a] pardon over this trial that’s
going on,” he said. “The president of Israel, the primary power he’s got
is the power to give pardons. You know, he said he’s given it five
times. Five different times, but he doesn’t want to do it. Because I
guess he loses his power. I think the people of Israel should really
shame him. He’s disgraceful for not giving it. He should give it.”
This was in reference to Netanyahu’s court
cases for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which not only have been
going on for six years and counting, but are falling apart with each
witness who takes the stand.
Herzog was informed of Trump’s remarks
while en route to Israel after a four-day trip to Australia. During the
flight, he and his advisers formulated a written response.
“Only upon completion of that process will
President Herzog consider the request in accordance with the law, the
best interests of the State of Israel, guided by his conscience, and
without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind,”
read the reply released by his office. “President Herzog deeply
appreciates President Trump for his significant contribution to the
State of Israel and its security. Israel is a sovereign state governed
by the rule of law.”
This was the second time that Herzog was
blindsided by Trump. The first occurred during the latter’s speech to
the Knesset on Oct. 13, 2025.
“Hey, I have an idea, Mr. President,”
Trump blurted out, off script. “Why don’t you give [Netanyahu] a pardon?
… [I]t just seems to make so much sense. You know, whether we like it
or not, [Netanyahu] has been one of the greatest wartime [prime
ministers]. And cigars and champagne—who the hell cares about that,
right?”
The next month, on Nov. 12, 2025, Trump sent a letter
to Herzog requesting a full pardon for Netanyahu—who “has stood tall
for Israel in the face of strong adversaries and long odds”—on the
grounds that “his attention cannot be unnecessarily diverted.”
Trump explained that, while he respects
the independence and requirements of the Israeli judicial system, he
believes that the case against Netanyahu is a “political, unjustified
prosecution.”
Herzog’s office answered with the
following statement: “President Herzog holds President Trump in the
highest regard and continues to express his deep appreciation for
President Trump’s unwavering support for Israel, his tremendous
contribution to the return of the hostages, to reshaping the situation
in the Middle East and Gaza especially, and to ensuring the security of
the State of Israel. Alongside and not withstanding this, as the Office
of the President has made clear throughout, anyone seeking a
Presidential pardon must submit a formal request in accordance with the
established procedures.”
This spurred Netanyahu—who has insisted
all along that he would prefer to see the trial through to the end and
be acquitted on all charges—to do just that, on Nov. 30, 2025.
Since then, Herzog has been reviewing,
mulling and considering the request before deciding how to rule on it.
And though it’s Netanyahu who’s been spending up to three days a week in
court, it’s Trump whose patience with the process is wearing thin.
Which brings us to the current brouhaha
stirred by the U.S. president’s having put Herzog on the spot, yet
again, in what could be called a typically “Trumpy” way. Or, to invoke a
recent barb aimed by Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman at The
Democrats Party head Yair Golan: “There’s no coordination between his
head and his mouth.”
It’s therefore understandable for Herzog
to be nonplussed, if not incensed. Insinuating that Bibi was behind
Trump’s tongue-lashing, however, is inexcusable.
But that’s just what a “source close to Herzog” did on Feb. 14, at the close of Shabbat.
“If Netanyahu had a hand in this, it is a
red line that has been crossed,” the anonymous source told the Hebrew
media. “We expect clarification on the part of the prime minister.”
A different “source”—this one in the Prime
Minister’s Office—asserted that Trump’s comments about Herzog had been
“entirely of his own initiative,” adding that Netanyahu had “learned
about [them] from the media and had no prior knowledge of [them], just
as he had no prior knowledge of the president’s remarks on this issue in
his speech in the Knesset.”
Familiarity with the figures involved is
sufficient to realize that Trump doesn’t take orders; he’s nobody’s
ventriloquist dummy.
And Netanyahu wouldn’t have wasted
precious breath on such a matter under the current circumstances.
Certainly not while facing a potential military strike—with or without
the United States—on or from the Islamic Republic.
This didn’t prevent the likes of the left-wing Haaretz
newspaper, as well as the talking heads on Israel’s similarly bent TV
channels, from suggesting that getting Trump to pressure Herzog for a
pardon was the real reason for Netanyahu’s sudden trans-Atlantic
sojourn.
To use Trump’s word, “shame” doesn’t begin to describe what they should be feeling.
