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JERUSALEM: Israel’s opposition leader on Thursday criticized US President Donald Trump for saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial should be canceled, warning him against interfering in internal affairs.

Trump on Wednesday described the case against Netanyahu as a “witch hunt,” echoing the Israeli premier’s dismissal of the corruption charges which he has flatly rejected.

In a message on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the Netanyahu trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero,” after the end of a 12-day war with Iran.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said in an interview with news website Ynet: “We are thankful to President Trump, but... the president should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country.”

Lapid, of the center-right Yesh Atid party, backed a statement by one of Netanyahu’s coalition allies, Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionism party, who called for Trump to stay out of the court case.

“It is not the role of the president of the United States to interfere in legal proceedings in the State of Israel,” said Rothman, who chairs the Israeli parliament’s judicial affairs committee.

Rothman, a vocal critic of what he argues is judicial overreach, however said that “the management of Netanyahu’s cases is transforming the image of the State of Israel from a regional and global power into a banana republic.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of another far-right party in Netnayhua’s coalition, branded the trial as politically motivated.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it was “distorted, unreasonable, contrary to the basic sense of justice” to continue Netanyahu’s trial at war, backing Trump’s call to drop the charges against the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. During his current term since late 2022, his government has proposed a series of far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say were designed to weaken the courts.

In the trial that has been delayed many times since it began in May 2020, Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.

In a first case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.

Two other cases allege that Netanyahu attempted to negotiate more favorable coverage in two Israeli media outlets.

Netanyahu has requested multiple postponements in the proceedings, most recently citing the ongoing war in Gaza since April 2023, later in Lebanon and earlier this month in Iran.

BRUSSELS: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday said Gaza was in a “catastrophic situation of genocide” and urged the European Union to immediately suspend its cooperation deal with Israel.

The comments represent the strongest condemnation to date by the leader, an outspoken critic of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Speaking to reporters before an EU summit in Brussels, Sanchez mentioned a recent human rights report by the bloc’s diplomatic service which, he said, addressed “the catastrophic situation of genocide unfolding in Gaza.”

The report published last week found “indications” that Israel was breaching its human rights obligations under the deal, which forms the basis for trade ties.

The text cited Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory, the high number of civilian casualties, attacks on journalists and the massive displacement and destruction caused by the war.

Sanchez said it was “more than obvious” that Israel was violating its obligations and that the bloc should suspend the cooperation deal “immediately.”

“It makes no sense” that the bloc has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine but, “in a double standard, is not even capable of suspending an association deal,” he added.

Suspending the EU-Israel accord outright would require unanimity among member states, something diplomats see as virtually impossible due to divisions within the bloc.

The Gaza war began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages, with 49 still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,156 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.