Trump endorses Netanyahu days before Israel's closely contested election

Israeli pollsters say endorsement unlikely to sway undecided voters

President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for re-election on Sunday, praising him as a “great warrior prime minister” and their joint work in the war against Iran in a social-media post addressed to “the great people of Israel.” The endorsement came nine days before Israelis are scheduled to go to the polls on October 27 in an election Netanyahu is fighting to win.

Calling the post his “Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his coming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel,” Trump also warned of the consequences of an alternative outcome. “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump said, referring to the Iran war. “Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself,” he added.

Netanyahu responded within hours on X with a series of posts, including a video montage showing Trump praising the Israeli leader. “Thank you, President Trump for the tremendous support and the joint work. Together we will complete the mission!” Netanyahu wrote.

Despite the public show of support, analysts told the Journal the endorsement was unlikely to influence many Israeli voters because of deep-seated polarization over Netanyahu’s leadership and declining Israeli support for Trump. The share of Israelis who believe Israel’s security is a central consideration for Trump fell from 44% in June to 28% in July, according to polling by the Israel Democracy Institute think tank in Jerusalem.

“I don’t see any swing as a result of this,” said Tamar Hermann, a pollster and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. “It could strengthen Netanyahu voters in their decision to vote for Netanyahu. It isn’t going to move anybody across the line to Netanyahu.”

Trump has featured prominently in past Netanyahu campaigns, but relations between the two men have been strained over disagreements on the war in Iran, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Netanyahu had been seeking a public show of support from Trump ahead of the vote as his polling numbers lag.

Netanyahu has been Israel’s prime minister for nearly 19 years over multiple terms. Current polling shows the Israeli leader would likely fail to secure a ruling coalition, though it isn’t clear if Israel’s fragmented opposition will be able to do so either. If neither side can form a coalition, Netanyahu would stay on as a caretaker prime minister until new elections were held.

The October 27 election is the first to be held in Israel since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, which killed around 1,200 people and sparked the war in Gaza. Many Israelis consider the vote to be the most important in the country’s history, as Israel faces isolation and declining international support.

Much of the campaign has focused on who bears responsibility for the security failure that preceded the October 7 attack. Israeli opposition parties argue that Netanyahu must accept responsibility, since he was prime minister at the time. Netanyahu has blamed his security chiefs for hiding information from him and says they failed to wake him up on the morning of the attack — allegations they deny.