Trump Endorses Netanyahu Nine Days Before Israel Votes and Ties the Iran War to the Result

On Sunday 18 October, nine days before Israelis vote on 27 October, Donald Trump gave Benjamin Netanyahu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” in a Truth Social post. He called Netanyahu “a Great Warrior Prime Minister” and wrote that “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.”

Netanyahu answered within hours. Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief of staff whose Yashar party has been ahead of Netanyahu’s Likud in recent polls, answered that evening on Channel 12. Earlier this month Trump had told Time that he was “not involved in politics anymore.”

This article sets those statements in order, with what Trump said before Sunday and what analysts said about it.

Trump went from declining to endorse Netanyahu in early October to a full endorsement on 18 October, and he attached it to the Iran campaign. Netanyahu has made the endorsement part of his closing pitch to voters. Eisenkot says he asked for no intervention and that Israel’s citizens alone decide. The Times of Israel reported that both blocs are short of a majority.

In an interview published in the first days of October, Time asked whether Israelis should give Netanyahu another term. As Asharq Al-Awsat reported, Trump replied: “I can only say that I’m not involved in politics anymore.” He added: “I wouldn’t underestimate Bibi.” Of Eisenkot he said: “I don’t hear bad things about him.”

On 19 August, Aaron David Miller and Daniel Kurtzer wrote in Foreign Policy that Trump had said: “It’s most appropriate for me to stay out of Israeli elections, but I may endorse somebody.” They concluded: “Trump, thus, has a Netanyahu problem. But Netanyahu’s Trump problem is far greater.”

Al Jazeera reported on 13 October that Trump had dodged a direct endorsement three times in the Time interview. Yousef Munayyer of Arab Center Washington DC told it that Trump “seems to be keeping greater distance from it than you would think.” Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group linked his reticence to a divide inside the administration, citing Vice President JD Vance’s opposition to Netanyahu’s part in pushing for US strikes on Iran. Michael Omer-Man of the DAWN think tank said: “I don’t think that Trump’s abandoned Netanyahu.”

The post tied the endorsement to Iran. JTA reported that Trump wrote that the United States would “soon finish the job” against Iran if its leaders did not change course, and that this depended on Netanyahu being in charge. The post closed: “BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

Trump gave Axios a reason by phone. According to the Times of Israel liveblog, he said: “I was always going to do that. I just didn’t want to do it too soon.” He added: “It is important that Israel has a person they can count on.” Asked whether he could work with another Israeli leader, he said: “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Who wants to take the chance?”

Netanyahu replied on X, as Yahoo’s report of the exchange quoted him: “Thank you, President Trump, for your tremendous support and for our work together. Together we will complete the mission!” In remarks that evening, recorded in the same liveblog, he said Trump had told him “we did wonderful things together” and that Trump “will do it only if the two of us do it together.” Then he told voters: “Listen to him, weigh his words, and vote for me.” He also said: “We decimated Iran, we decimated the Iranian axis.”

Eisenkot told Channel 12 that he has “great appreciation for the US president” and that Israel’s citizens are the only ones who decide who the prime minister will be. Asked whether he had tried to stop the endorsement, he said: “There were a number of meetings I don’t want to elaborate on. I requested that there be no intervention in Israel’s internal election. But I’ll deal with it.” Golan, of the Democrats party, said after stating that he respects Trump: “Benjamin Netanyahu is a diplomatic and security danger to Israel.”

Trump’s post says the “job” against Iran will be finished soon, with Netanyahu in charge. Netanyahu’s remarks the same evening say Trump “will do it only if the two of us do it together.” The Prime Minister then asked voters to “listen to him.”

Eisenkot is not running against that war aim. Connor Echols of Responsible Statecraft reported on 16 October that Eisenkot said “Israel must do everything, including attacking Iran, to destroy its nuclear capability.” The same piece put both leading parties at just over 20 seats each. Sunday’s argument was over who delivers the Iran campaign and whether a US president should speak in the vote.

Trump’s sentence “America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so” is addressed to Israeli voters, and it is also a statement about American commitment. JTA noted that the two-month US war with Iran was paused in April, that it has slowed oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz and raised gasoline prices, and that US midterms fall on 3 November. It also reported that Netanyahu told Fox News: “It’s right or nuclear.”

The site’s earlier reporting shows how recently the pre-election plan looked different. In Will the US or Israel Strike Iran Before the Elections?, Netanyahu called a pre-election strike “no good.” Sunday’s post speaks of finishing the job “soon” and gives no date.

The first marker is the polls between now and 27 October: whether Likud gains on Yashar, and whether either bloc moves toward 61. The second is whether Trump repeats the Iran conditions in public, and whether Netanyahu repeats Trump’s sentence about doing “this work ourselves” in his closing rallies. The third is Trump’s remark to Axios, “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” which is the only sentence on record about what he does if Eisenkot wins.

After 27 October, the Iran talks and the Hormuz negotiations will show whether “soon finish the job” was a campaign line or a timetable.