US President Donald Trump has called for Israel to cancel the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or grant him a pardon, describing the case against the Israeli leader as a “witch-hunt”

Trump issued the call on Wednesday on behalf of his close Israeli ally, who was indicted in 2019 in Israel on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

“BREAKING NEWS… I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on Truth Social.

The US president said that he and Netanyahu “just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land.”

“Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos! Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel,” Trump claimed. “The result was something that nobody thought was possible, a complete elimination of potentially one of the biggest and most powerful Nuclear Weapons anywhere in the World, and it was going to happen, SOON! We were fighting, literally, for the Survival of Israel, and there is nobody in Israel’s History that fought harder or more competently than Bibi Netanyahu.”

“Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me,” said Trump, echoing both Netanyahu’s rhetoric about the trial and his own regarding the criminal cases and legal challenges he has faced.

“Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State,” Trump continued.

“It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu. THIS TRAVESTY OF ‘JUSTICE’ CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!” he concluded.

In December, Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister to take the stand as the defendant in a criminal trial for corruption. He assailed the charges against him as an “ocean of absurdity”.

He was charged with fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes in three separate cases.

The 75-year-old is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars and champagne from a billionaire Hollywood producer in exchange for assisting him with personal and business interests, and of promoting advantageous regulation for media moguls in exchange for favourable coverage of himself and his family.

He denies wrongdoing, saying the charges are a witch-hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased legal system out to topple his lengthy rule.