Trump endorses Netanyahu ahead of Israel's October 27 election

US President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media, with less than two weeks to go before Israel's October 27 parliamentary election. It will be the country's first national vote since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The backing matters to Netanyahu, a Likud Party politician, who had promoted his close ties to Trump as a reason to keep him in power.

Trump wrote that Netanyahu had been a "Great Warrior Prime Minister" and an even greater partner for peace in confronting Iran. He again threatened to "soon finish the job" against Iran unless it changes its ways quickly, but added he might not do so if Netanyahu loses. If Israel has "the wrong Leader", meaning anyone other than Netanyahu, the United States would have to do the work itself, and he is not inclined to, Trump said.

Netanyahu thanked Trump in a statement on X, and Likud attached a 35-second video of clips showing the two leaders together. It is unclear what effect the endorsement will have on a race expected to be tight. Trump remains popular in Israel, but many Israelis, including leading commentators, have voiced disappointment over the inconclusive result of the war with Iran and over Trump's ceasefire proposal, which fell short of many goals the two countries had set when they launched the war together in February.

Netanyahu's main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, said at a conference in Tel Aviv that he admires Trump, but Israel is a democratic country and only Israelis can choose their leader.

Background

Trump endorsed Netanyahu in earlier elections and in November sent a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog asking him to pardon Netanyahu on corruption charges. In recent months, however, he was more reserved, and told Time magazine this month that he is "not involved in politics anymore". Especially in his second term, Trump has backed candidates in foreign elections, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who lost his bid for a fifth term, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Polish President Karol Nawrocki.

During the nearly eight-month war with Iran, the two leaders have disagreed. Trump criticised an attack on an Iranian gas field, called Netanyahu "crazy" in June, and in August Netanyahu rejected Trump's plan to advance the stalled Gaza ceasefire.