According to a report by The Times of Israel on Thursday, May 7, 2026, to discuss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met in secret with journalist Jacob Bardugo, who is known to be a confidante of Netanyahu, in late March.
The meeting reportedly occurred at an apartment in Shoham during the night and was not publicly announced at the time. This happened just before Herzog made a public plea for political parties to discuss Netanyahu’s possible plea deal in his continuing legal troubles.
The discussion reportedly took place after Bardugo, a journalist for the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, harshly criticised Herzog on air, accusing him of not pardoning Netanyahu, according to Channel 12.
According to the BBC, an admission of guilt is usually necessary as part of any pardon procedure, and the prime minister has not done so in the judicial processes.
The President’s Residence later acknowledged the meeting’s existence after the report’s release, but they characterised it as more of a roundtable chat than a formal negotiating or decision-making session.
The President’s Residence stated that the meeting in question was minimally substantive, with no specific plans or discussions on a pardon.
In addition, Herzog’s office emphasised that no promises were made during the conversation, characterising the meeting as typical of encounters with journalists and public personalities. Aside from labelling the communication as a background interaction, it did not give any more information about the conversation’s content.