Israeli President Isaac Herzog has deferred any decision on Benjamin Netanyahu’s November 2025 pardon request in the long-running corruption trial, instead directing parties to exhaust plea-deal negotiations first. The Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department issued a March 2026 opinion stating it could not confirm presidential authority for a pre-conviction pardon absent an admission of guilt, resignation, or conviction, and declined to recommend the step. These procedural hurdles, combined with the absence of precedent for halting an active trial and ongoing cross-examination in the case, have kept trader-implied probabilities low. No resolution timeline has been set, leaving scope for future shifts if plea talks advance or trial developments alter the political calculus.