President Isaac Herzog’s legal adviser on Tuesday invited the attorney general and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer to the President’s Residence to begin discussions to reach “agreements” over the premier’s ongoing criminal trial, meaning a plea bargain.

Earlier this week, Herzog ruled out granting Netanyahu’s request for a pardon at this stage, with Hebrew media reporting that the president was disinclined to go against the advice of the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department, which said that the prime minister’s request did not meet the criteria for a pardon.

Herzog’s legal adviser Michal Tzuk stated in a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the head of Israel’s prosecution service, and Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad that an “arrangement” would be in the interest of the country, and said that the president had publicly expressed this position several times.

“You are therefore invited to come to the President’s Residence as soon as possible to establish the necessary process for holding these talks with a willing heart and with good and appropriate intentions, with both sides entering the room free of........

© The Times of Israel