Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak is expected to meet with Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog tomorrow evening to discuss possible ways of bringing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s long-running criminal trial to a close, Channel 12 reported Monday. Barak, who has publicly supported ending the proceedings — now in their sixth year — under certain conditions, is reportedly prepared to advise Herzog against granting Netanyahu a presidential pardon outright. According to the report, Barak will argue that if such a pardon were considered, it should be conditioned on Netanyahu stepping down from public office. Barak is also expected to tell Herzog that any plea bargain allowing Netanyahu to remain in office while terminating the trial would be unacceptable. The move comes just days after it was revealed that Barak had quietly met with Netanyahu’s legal team in January to explore a potential plea deal. That effort collapsed after the prime minister refused to resign. A similar mediation attempt by Barak in 2022 ended in the same deadlock. The issue has been thrust back into the spotlight after former U.S. President Donald Trump publicly called twice in recent days for Netanyahu’s trial to be canceled altogether. Netanyahu’s testimony in the trial was suspended during the recent 12-day war with Iran, when all non-urgent court hearings were halted. Hearings scheduled for this week were also canceled after Netanyahu brought senior intelligence officials to argue that pressing national security concerns demanded his full attention, following two prior rejections of his requests for a postponement. Since Netanyahu began testifying, the Jerusalem District Court has repeatedly postponed proceedings due to what Netanyahu cited as his duties as prime minister, along with scheduling conflicts, foreign travel, and health issues. Despite these delays, Netanyahu has consistently maintained that he is capable of running the country and facing trial at the same time. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)