President Isaac Herzog has frozen further review of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s pardon request, Kan News reported on Sunday evening.

According to the report, Herzog’s decision came after Netanyahu failed to respond to his invitation to hold talks with the prosecution.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara agreed to hold talks but was not expected to approve a pardon without an admission of guilt, something that Netanyahu has repeatedly said he will not agree to.

The cases against Netanyahu have fallen apart one by one in the courtroom, with multiple claims disproven or withdrawn. In addition, multiple incidents of police investigators acting illegally in the cases have been revealed in the courtroom.

Netanyahu’s testimony in his ongoing trial is expected to conclude in the near future, and once it does, the pardon request could become irrelevant.

In February, U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Herzog over the matter, saying: “He should be ashamed that he is not granting Netanyahu a pardon.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)