Trump Endorses Netanyahu Ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 Vote, Warns the U.S. Would Have to 'Do This Work Ourselves' on Iran
In a Sunday letter, the president called the Israeli prime minister a 'great warrior' and said any other leader would leave America to handle Iran alone.
President Trump has put his weight behind Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before Israelis vote, and he tied the endorsement directly to the war with Iran.
In a letter posted Sunday morning, Trump gave Netanyahu and the Likud Party what he called his "Complete and Total Endorsement" in the Oct. 27 Knesset elections. He described the prime minister as a "great warrior" and a U.S. "partner for peace." Fox News reports he said Netanyahu faced the most trying times and "did not wilt," but "actually got stronger."
The sharpest line was about what happens if Netanyahu loses. "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 wrote. He closed with: "BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Netanyahu answered on X soon after. "Thank you, President Trump, for the tremendous support and the joint work," he wrote. "Together, we will complete the mission."
How the vote works, according to Fox: Israelis choose party lists, not individual candidates, and seats in the 120-seat Knesset are split in proportion to the vote among parties that clear a 3.25% threshold. After the election, President Isaac Herzog, who is not on the ballot, asks the lawmaker best placed to build a coalition to try to form a government. That person needs the backing of at least 61 members.
Fox says current forecasts have Likud winning roughly 18 to 22 seats. A Netanyahu-aligned right-religious bloc is projected at about 49 to 51 seats in total, short of a majority. That leaves smaller parties and possible coalition partners holding the balance.
Why it matters to American readers: the endorsement links the outcome of a foreign election to U.S. military involvement. Trump is saying a different Israeli leader would leave Washington to "finish the job" on Iran by itself, a prospect he says he does not favor. Fox's report does not include a response from Netanyahu's opponents or from Israeli election officials.