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Trump Endorses Netanyahu, Ties Israel’s Vote to the Iran War

Trump endorses Netanyahu nine days before Israel votes, saying that with any other leader, “America will have to do this work ourselves” on Iran.

ByPeter Klausz
Netanyahu and Trump at podiums with presidential seals, between US and Israeli flags in the White House State Dining Room
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu at a joint news conference in the White House State Dining Room, Sept. 29, 2025. Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian (public domain).

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, 18 October 2026 – President Donald Trump on Sunday gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” for re-election, nine days before Israelis vote on 27 October. In a post addressed “To the Great People of Israel,” Trump tied the choice of Israel’s next leader directly to the war with Iran.

Our Iran War Tracker follows the conflict that began on 28 February, and our Iran war update for 18 October covers the latest fighting around the Strait of Hormuz. This report covers the endorsement, the reactions in Israel and what it could mean for the war.

Trump endorses Netanyahu: what he wrote

Trump published the message on Truth Social at 10:45 a.m. ET. He called Netanyahu “a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran.” He wrote that Iran had been “systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job.”

The passage most relevant to US policy came next:

“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 also described Netanyahu as “Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself,” and closed with “BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

In a brief phone interview with Axios after the post, Trump said, “I was always going to do that. I just didn’t want to do it too soon,” The Times of Israel reported. Asked whether he could work with a different Israeli leader, he replied, “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Who wants to take the chance?” Channel 12 reporter Barak Ravid said several of Trump’s close advisers had favored replacing Netanyahu. Sources in Netanyahu’s office told the channel they had not known the endorsement was coming.

How Netanyahu and his rivals responded

Netanyahu thanked Trump on X for his “tremendous support and the joint work,” adding, “Together we will complete the mission!” In a Likud campaign video, he said “we have crushed Iran” and that the partnership “will continue in order to eliminate the Iranian threat over the next two years, or even sooner,” CBS News and AFP reported.

His main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, 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,” according to The Times of Israel. Asked on Channel 12 whether he had tried to stop the endorsement, he said, “I requested that there be no intervention in Israel’s internal election. But I’ll deal with it.” On Iran, he said, “I don’t currently see any information or event that requires urgent, immediate action nine days before an election.”

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, whose B’Yachad party is polling third, told students in Tel Aviv, “I know I can get along very well with President Trump,” and said that “every leader works with the leader who is elected.”

Where the race stands

Israel’s prime minister is chosen by building a coalition of at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, not by direct vote. A Zman Yisrael poll taken on 14 and 15 October gave Eisenkot’s Yashar party 26 seats and Netanyahu’s Likud 20, with the anti-Netanyahu bloc at 54 seats and the pro-Netanyahu bloc at 49. A Channel 13 poll a day earlier put Netanyahu’s bloc ahead by 51 seats to 50. Neither camp reaches a majority in either survey.

Endorsing candidates abroad is not new for Trump. Reuters noted that he has backed candidates in Hungary, Colombia, Argentina, Japan and Honduras, a break with long-standing US practice.

What it means

Peter’s World analysis, based on the sources cited above.

The post ties the US approach to Iran to the result of Israel’s election. In his own words, Trump framed a non-Netanyahu government as one that would leave more of the Iran campaign to the United States, a role he said he is “not inclined” to take on. That raises the stakes of the vote for Washington as well as for Israel, at a time when Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran is still reviewing US comments on its seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The endorsement’s effect on voters is uncertain. The polls show a deadlock, and Eisenkot and Bennett both responded by stressing that they could work with Trump rather than by criticizing him.

What to watch: whether Likud features the endorsement in its final campaign push; whether other opposition leaders respond; any new US statement on the Iran talks before 27 October; and how coalition talks unfold if neither bloc reaches 61 seats.

Sources

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