What Matters Now12 Nov 2025

What Matters Now to Haviv Rettig Gur: The case for pardoning Netanyahu

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

BBC director-general Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, stepped down this week after being in the firing line for months over allegations of bias — including the national broadcaster’s coverage of antisemitism, the war in Gaza, and Israel more generally. Rettig Gur is just back from London and we hear his disheartening impressions of how that corner of the Jewish Diaspora is faring.

US President Donald Trump sent a letter to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday formally asking Israel’s head of state to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption. Herzog's office issued a statement that a pardon request must go through the proper channels.

We first ask whether a pardon is even possible, if, as Opposition Leader Yair Lapid stated Wednesday, it would require the premier to admit he broke the law.

Regardless of admissions of guilt, Rettig Gur explains why he has some hopes that Netanyahu will be pardoned. Spoiler: It's not because Rettig Gur is especially a fan of Israel's leader.

And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: President Donald Trump talks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, October 13, 2025, in Jerusalem. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

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