Yair Lapid, leader of the Israeli opposition, voiced criticism toward US President Donald Trump for his remarks suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial should be dropped, while also cautioning Trump against meddling in the entity's domestic matters.

Lapid expressed gratitude toward President Trump while also emphasizing that the US leader should refrain from interfering in the judicial proceedings of what he said was an "independent country" during an interview with Israeli website Ynet.

"We are thankful to President Trump, but... the president should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country,"  Lapid told Ynet.

Trump on Wednesday characterized the legal proceedings against Netanyahu as a "witch hunt," mirroring the Israeli prime minister's rejection of the corruption charges.

In a post on his Truth Social platform following the conclusion of a 12-day war on Iran, Trump insisted that Netanyahu's trial "should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero," framing the prosecution as unjust.

Lapid, a member of the center-right Yesh Atid party, aligned with the position of Simcha Rothman from the far-right Religious Zionism party, one of Netanyahu's coalition partners, who had previously called on Trump not to intervene in the legal proceedings.

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Rothman, who serves as chairman of the Israeli parliament's Judicial Affairs Committee, stated, "It is not the role of the president of the United States to interfere in legal proceedings in the State of Israel," emphasizing that such intervention was inappropriate.

Coalition figures echo Trump’s criticism of Netanyahu's trial

The far-right leader Rothman, who has frequently criticized what he perceives as excessive judicial intervention, nevertheless argued that the way Netanyahu's legal cases were being handled risked damaging "Israel's" international standing by making it appear less like a respected regional and global power and more akin to an unstable banana republic.

Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads another far-right party within Netanyahu's coalition, dismissed the trial as being driven by political motives rather than legal grounds.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar argued that proceeding with Netanyahu's prosecution during wartime was fundamentally unjust. Sa'ar described it as a distorted process that defied basic principles of fairness and explicitly supported Trump's position that the charges against the Israeli prime minister should be abandoned.

Netanyahu runs away from corruption trials

As "Israel's" longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu has led a government since late 2022 that has advanced controversial judicial overhaul proposals, which opponents argue are intended to undermine the independence and authority of the court system.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied all allegations of misconduct in the ongoing trial, which has faced multiple postponements since its initiation in May 2020.

The initial case involves allegations that Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, received over $260,000 in high-end items, including cigars, jewelry, and champagne, from wealthy businessmen, with prosecutors claiming these gifts were given in return for political favors. The remaining cases involve accusations that Netanyahu engaged in negotiations to secure more positive media coverage from two prominent Israeli news organizations.

Netanyahu has sought numerous delays in the trial proceedings, with his most recent requests for postponement being justified by citing military conflicts, first pointing to the war in Gaza that began in April 2023, then referencing hostilities in Lebanon, and most recently attributing the need for delay to the escalation with Iran earlier this month.