President Trump on Sunday endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for another term as Israel's prime minister, ending months in which he had withheld his support, nine days before Israelis go to the polls. The Oct. 27 election is the country's first national vote since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the Associated Press reported.
Trump made the endorsement in a message addressed "To the Great People of Israel" and posted to his Truth Social account. Netanyahu, he wrote, "has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran." Near the end came the formal line: "Please let this Letter serve to represent my Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel," according to the text of the letter published by the New York Post.
Iran ran through the message. Trump wrote that the Islamic Republic had been "systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially," and that "unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job." He then tied that work to the Israeli ballot. "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," the letter said.
Much of the rest praised Netanyahu's staying power. In the same letter, Trump said the prime minister had been "Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself," and called him "the kind of Partner that the United States of America is demanding of Israel." His final appeal came in capital letters: "BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Until Sunday, Trump had kept his distance from the race. He told Time earlier this month that he was no longer involved in Israeli politics, and in a Newsmax interview on Thursday he said, "I've had a very good relationship with him," while stopping short of an endorsement, CNN reported in an analysis published hours before the post. Asked directly whether he trusted Netanyahu, Trump replied, "I don't trust anybody in the world of politics."
The AP called the endorsement a coveted boost, one Trump had held back for months as the two leaders' strategies in the Middle East diverged. Its absence had been a setback for Netanyahu, who had pitched his close ties to Trump as a reason to keep him in office, the AP reported.
That argument has a long history. Trump has appeared in Netanyahu's campaigns since 2013, when, as a businessman and television personality, he released a video urging Israelis to "vote for Benjamin." About two weeks before Israel's April 2019 election, Netanyahu was in Washington to watch Trump sign a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, CNN noted.
This year also brought war. The United States and Israel opened a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28, and the ceasefire and memorandum of understanding that followed were deeply unpopular in Israel, particularly on the right, according to CNN.
Whether the letter moves Israeli voters is less certain. A July survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute found that 7% of Israelis had "a great deal of trust" that Trump would do the right thing on relations between the two countries, while 45% had none, CNN reported. Before the post, a Likud source told the network that Trump's standing in Israel had weakened, especially among right-wing voters, and that an endorsement "would not necessarily have helped Netanyahu so much." A senior opposition figure was blunter in remarks to CNN: "A year ago, our camp was calling anyone close to Trump to prevent an endorsement. Now it doesn't really matter, the charm is not there."
Even while he stayed out of the race, Trump had cautioned against counting Netanyahu out. Asked about the prime minister's leading challenger in the polls, he said, "I don't hear bad things about him," then added, "They've written Bibi off many, many times, just like they've written me off many, many times. I wouldn't underestimate Bibi," the network reported.