The Wall Street Journal Tsk-Tsks Trump for Calling for Netanyahu’s Trial to Be ‘CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY’
(Mark Schiefelbein/AP photo)
The Wall Street Journal chided President Donald Trump for interfering in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial in an editorial arguing it isn’t “appropriate.”
In a Truth Social post last week, Trump professed to be “shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!”
“I just learned that Bibi has been summoned to Court on Monday for the continuation of this long running, (He has been going through this ‘Horror Show’ since May of 2020 – Unheard of! This is the first time a sitting Israeli Prime Minister has ever been on trial.), politically motivated case, ‘concerning cigars, a Bugs Bunny doll, and numerous other unfair charges’ in order to do him great harm. Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me,” continued Trump. “He deserves much better than this, and so does the State of Israel. Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State.”
After observing that “President Trump has taken up a new cause: the Benjamin Netanyahu innocence project,” the Journal‘s editorial board characterized the trial as being about “vague breach-of-trust charges over his alleged receipt, from 2007 to 2016, of gifts of cigars and champagne valued at some $200,000 in total, plus a novel legal theory that construes positive news coverage as an illegal bribe.”
“But the workings of Israel’s overactive legal system and domestic politics aren’t within a U.S. President’s purview. We doubt Mr. Trump is familiar with the details of the Netanyahu case, nor should he be. It isn’t America’s place to say, as Mr. Trump has, that ‘Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY,’ or to threaten, ‘We are not going to stand for this’ after mentioning U.S. military aid,” it argued. “That aid furthers a strategic purpose, as all the world saw this June in Iran, not a political one.”
The Journal went on to compare Trump’s comments on the trial to former President Joe Biden’s interference in the 2023 debate over judicial reform.
“That looked like an effort to topple Mr. Netanyahu, whereas Mr. Trump’s is to prop him up. Neither is appropriate for an ally, and neither is in the long-term interest of the U.S.-Israel alliance,” it argued.
