Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, has just asked the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, to “fully pardon” him of all three charges – bribery, fraud and breach of trust – for which he has been on trial since 2020. And the question is: Why did he only ask for it now?

He has dealt with the charges for the past five years with delay tactics in court and by requesting endless postponements on the grounds he was too busy fighting a war in the Gaza Strip. But there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which some people hope can be turned into a peace deal and reconstruction of the devastated homes of its 2.3 million people.

The cease-fire intensifies Netanyahu’s legal problem, however, since he can no longer plausibly demand postponements in the trial proceedings because of the war. Moreo

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