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U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 election, warning that if Israelis chose anyone else, Washington would have to take on Iran alone, a prospect he said he was "not inclined" to accept.
"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 on Truth Social, calling Netanyahu "a Great Warrior Prime Minister" and an "even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran."
It is the first time a U.S. president has explicitly endorsed a candidate in an Israeli election, as polls show neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition reaching the 61 seats needed to govern.
"Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself," Trump wrote.
"Normal men or women in such situations would have wilted under the pressure — But Bibi did not wilt, he actually got stronger, and maintains that same Strength today," he added.
"This is the kind of Partner that the United States of America is demanding of Israel, a Country for which it has done so much. Please let this Letter serve to represent my Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel. Bibi Netanyahu will never let you down!"
On Iran, Trump wrote that it has "been systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job."
"I was always going to do that. I just didn’t want to do it too soon," Trump told Axios, noting, "It is important that Israel has a person they can count on."
Asked if he could work with another Israeli leader, he said: "Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Who wants to take the chance?"
"Thank you, President Trump, for your tremendous support and for our work together. Together we will complete the mission!" Netanyahu wrote on X.
"I ask you to listen carefully to what President Trump said this evening," Netanyahu told voters. "He said that together we have accomplished extraordinary things. But there is still a mission to complete."
In a Likud video, he said re-election would let him work with Trump to eliminate the Iranian threat over the next two years.
"It warms the heart, because our partnership is an asset to the State of Israel," Netanyahu said in a television interview. "The window with Trump is the next two years. Who will work with him? Gadi Eisenkot?"
Netanyahu’s main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who leads the Yashar party, said he appreciates Trump. "But the elections are a domestic Israeli issue. The only ones who will decide are the citizens of Israel, and I will stand firm on this," he told Channel 12.
"Israel is a democratic country, only Israelis can choose their leaders," he said at a conference in Tel Aviv.
"Netanyahu is driving America into another war to stay out of jail," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
"Last time you wanted to ‘finish the job,’ Iran emerged even stronger. Want to try your luck again? Be our guest. But be careful; we have unfinished jobs too," he added.
In an election this close, "it couldn’t hurt him, and it might help," said Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "However angry Trump may be at Netanyahu for pushing this Iran war, this in the end was a Trump decision," Miller said.
Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute told Reuters that the endorsement could win back wavering Netanyahu voters but was unlikely to draw broad support.
Trump had been frustrated with Netanyahu in recent weeks, privately calling him "his own worst enemy," according to two people who discussed the matter with the president, who spoke to Axios. Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges, is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, as Trump's endorsement reshapes the final stretch of the race.
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