Trump says any leader other than Netanyahu would be wrong for Israel

U.S. President Donald Trump declared his “complete and total endorsement” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before the Oct. 27 Knesset election, warning that the United States would have to finish the confrontation with Iran alone if Israelis chose another leader.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset election set for Oct. 27, in a message posted on his Truth Social platform and addressed to “the Great People of Israel,” after weeks of avoiding an endorsement of any candidate.

The full text of Trump’s message

Trump wrote: “To the Great People of Israel: Bibi Netanyahu has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran, with its 51 year old chant, ‘Death to Israel, Death to America! We will destroy the Little Satan and the Big Satan.’ What Country can survive when things such as this are allowed to be said, because eventually, they always end up being true? It would have been only a question of time until Iran would have put that ominous phrase into effect, but they have been systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job. 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.”

He continued: “Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself. Despite all of that, he has endured and, in fact, he has thrived! I have watched Bibi under the most trying of times. 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. 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! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Netanyahu gives thanks as rivals say voters will decide

Netanyahu quickly thanked Trump in a Hebrew-language message: “Thank you, President Trump, for the tremendous support and the joint work. Together we will complete the mission!” Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and seen as Netanyahu’s main rival, told Israel’s Channel 12 that he has “very great respect” for Trump but that “the only ones who will decide” are Israel’s citizens, adding that he had asked that there be no intervention in Israel’s internal election.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he could get along “very well” with Trump and that “every leader works with the leader who is elected.” The Jerusalem Post reported in August that figures close to Eisenkot, Bennett and Yair Lapid had passed messages to Trump’s associates asking him to stay neutral in the election.

The announcement marks a shift for Trump, who avoided endorsing Netanyahu in an interview with Time magazine earlier this month and told Newsmax last Thursday, “I don’t trust anybody in the world of politics.” The vote, the first since the Gaza war began in October 2023, comes amid the war the United States and Israel launched against Iran on Feb. 28. Netanyahu has also faced an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The Knesset building in Jerusalem

Polls point to a tight race. According to the average of four surveys by the Maariv newspaper, Channel 12, Channel 13 and public broadcaster Kan, Eisenkot’s Yashar leads with 21.5 seats to Likud’s 19. Netanyahu’s bloc averages 51 seats against 51.25 for the Zionist opposition, with neither bloc close to the 61 seats needed to form a government in the 120-seat Knesset.

Trump says any leader other than Netanyahu would be wrong for Israel