Trump endorses Netanyahu nine days before Israeli election
Donald Trump gave Benjamin Netanyahu his complete endorsement for reelection ahead of Israel’s October 27 vote, ending months in which the U.S. president had withheld an explicit endorsement.
President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection on October 18, nine days before Israel’s national vote. The declaration ended months in which Trump had not offered the explicit support Netanyahu’s Likud party wanted to showcase during the campaign.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Netanyahu had been strong, brave and brilliant despite opposition, including criticism inside Israel. He called the prime minister the kind of partner the United States demands of Israel and said the message represented his complete endorsement of Netanyahu’s bid for another term.
Reuters and The Associated Press separately reported the endorsement on Sunday. AP described it as a significant boost because of Trump’s popularity in Israel, while noting that the president had withheld it for months as the two leaders’ approaches in the Middle East diverged.
A direct intervention in Israel’s campaign
The October 27 election will be Israel’s first national vote since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The intervening period has included wars involving Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, making national security and the government’s handling of those conflicts central to the political environment.
Netanyahu has long presented his relationship with Trump as evidence that he can manage Israel’s most important alliance. AP reported that the absence of a Trump endorsement had been viewed as a setback for the Likud leader. Sunday’s statement gives Netanyahu a prominent piece of outside support in the campaign’s final stretch.
The endorsement also places a sitting U.S. president directly into another country’s electoral contest. Reuters noted that such explicit endorsements in foreign elections are unusual for American presidents, although Trump has made them on multiple occasions.
Trump ties his support to Iran and the U.S. alliance
Trump praised Netanyahu as a partner in confronting Iran and framed his support in terms of what Washington expects from Israel. The statement did not announce a change in U.S. policy, military assistance or diplomatic relations. Its immediate effect is political: a public appeal from the U.S. president on behalf of one candidate for prime minister.
The timing is also notable because Trump and Netanyahu have not moved in lockstep on every regional issue. AP’s account said their strategies had diverged during the months when Trump held back an endorsement. By backing Netanyahu now, Trump emphasized their shared posture toward Iran rather than those disagreements.
What the endorsement does — and does not — decide
Israel’s voters will determine the composition of the Knesset, and the next government will depend on which parties can assemble a governing coalition. Trump’s endorsement cannot itself decide that process, but it gives Netanyahu a recognizable international ally to feature as undecided voters make their choice.
The result will shape whether Netanyahu remains in office after an exceptionally turbulent period or whether rivals gain the numbers needed to form a different government. For the United States, the next coalition will become the counterpart for policy on Iran, regional security and the aftermath of the conflicts that followed the 2023 attack.
Sources and image credit
Reporting: Reuters, published by NBC News; The Associated Press.
Image: President Donald Trump meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on July 28, 2026. Official White House photograph by Daniel Torok, via Wikimedia Commons; public domain. Cropped to 16:9 and resized to 1600×900 with no text added. The image is illustrative and predates the endorsement.