"If he goes home and can't come back, then certainly I'm in favor of a pardon," Bennett said. "Stop the trial, but he doesn't return to politics. Let me explain why. First of all, I don't have hatred toward him, I don't have a feeling of revenge, he doesn't interest me. But Netanyahu, to a large extent, for significant parts of the people of Israel, has become a symbol, much more than a politician. At the level he's perceived, there's the flag, there's the menorah, there's Netanyahu."
Asked whether this view still holds after the October 7 attacks, Bennett replied: "For parts of the nation, yes, and I have no interest in trampling or affecting or harming that symbol. And also, you know, he's a person approaching eighty soon, an elderly Jew, I don't want to see him in orange prison clothes. He didn't go and murder anyone, he apparently committed offenses that aren't okay, but unequivocally, if he's out of politics, I don't want to see him in prison."
Netanyahu is currently on trial facing charges of fraud, breach of trust, and bribery in three separate cases. The trial has been ongoing since 2020.
