Trump endorses Netanyahu nine days before Israel votes; Eisenkot says only Israelis will decide

Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before Israel goes to the polls, offering the prime minister his “complete and total endorsement” and warning Israelis that if they picked someone else, America would have to take on Iran alone.

In a post on Truth Social addressed to “the Great People of Israel” on Sunday, the US President called Netanyahu “a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran.” He wrote in capitals: “BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” If Israel chose a different leader, he said, “America will have to do this work ourselves,” adding that he was “not inclined to do so.”

The election on 27 October is Israel’s first since the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023. Polls show a tight race, with neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the one led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot able to reach the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset. About seven million Israelis are eligible to vote.

Netanyahu’s camp seizes on it

Netanyahu posted a video compilation of Trump’s praise with the caption “Together we’ll finish the task!” He said Trump would finish “eliminating the Iranian threat” only with him in office, and that “ensuring the eternity of Israel is what’s on the table in these elections.” On X he thanked Trump for “your tremendous support and for our work together.”

His allies followed. Israel Katz called the post a “most important strategic message about Israel’s security in the future.” Bezalel Smotrich said voters “would do well to listen to the president of the world’s largest superpower.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said: “There’s only one person here who can be prime minister,” and argued that the endorsement gave Netanyahu the legitimacy to form a fully right-wing government.

Eisenkot: I tried to stop it

Eisenkot, whose centre-right Yashar party is projected to win the most votes, answered at a Tel Aviv University event on Sunday evening. He said he had “great appreciation for the US president” but that “Israel’s citizens are the only ones who will decide who the prime minister will be.”

In a Channel 12 interview, he said he had asked that there be no American intervention in Israel’s internal election, and referred to meetings he would not describe. Asked whether a renewed conflict with Iran was close, he said he had seen no information requiring urgent action so close to the vote, and that he trusted the army chief, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, to make the right recommendation if a threat emerged.

Eisenkot argued that the leader of the largest party should be the natural candidate for prime minister. He also repeated his call for a state commission of inquiry into the 7 October attack, which Netanyahu has resisted, and accused the prime minister of doing nothing to prevent the massacre.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, whose B’Yachad party is projected to come third behind Yashar and Likud, struck a softer note. “I know I can get along very well with President Trump,” he said, adding that the Israeli public would decide.

Why it matters

Trump joined Israel in attacking Iran in late February, and the two leaders have at times disagreed over how the war should end: Netanyahu has said no deal is possible with Iran’s leadership, while Trump has sought a negotiated settlement. Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who turns 77 on Wednesday, is also on trial on corruption charges.

The endorsement lands as the campaign has turned bitter, after broadcaster Yinon Magal compared Eisenkot to a monkey, a slur Yashar said Netanyahu and Likud had failed to condemn.