Trump leverages U.S. aid to Israel in warning to drop Netanyahu trial

President Trump is pressuring Israel to halt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial, suggesting that the US might suspend military assistance if the trial continues. Trump's intervention is unprecedented, as US presidents have traditionally treated aid to Israel as a bipartisan commitment. Trump claimed that the trial would interfere with negotiations with Iran and Hamas, and questioned how Israel could force its leader to sit in a courtroom while receiving billions of dollars in aid from the US. Netanyahu is standing trial for charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate cases. Trump publicly called for the trial to be "cancelled immediately" or for Netanyahu to be granted a pardon. The former head of Israel's Shin Bet has accused Netanyahu of trying to use executive powers to stall the case. Trump's move was seen as part of a broader strategy to compensate Netanyahu for ending the war in Gaza. Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized Trump's intervention, saying it was an attempt to interfere in a legal proceeding in an independent, sovereign country. Netanyahu praised Trump's intervention, fueling suspicions of coordination between the two leaders. The odds of Israel's attorney general canceling the trial are virtually zero, but Trump's public pressure could fuel efforts to fire her, potentially igniting a constitutional crisis.