Donald Trump kept Israel guessing all summer. On Sunday he ended the suspense, in capital letters. Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president gave Benjamin Netanyahu his full backing, nine days before Israelis elect a new Knesset on 27 October.
The message was as much about Iran as about Israel. Trump hailed the Likud leader as a wartime premier and a reliable ally against the Islamic Republic, which the two countries launched together in February. He also attached a warning: if voters picked anyone else, America would have to finish that job on its own, and he was “not inclined” to do it. Netanyahu replied on X within hours, thanking the president and vowing that they would finish what they started together. Likud quickly turned the moment into a short campaign clip.
Whether the boost will move votes is far from clear. The relationship has been bumpy this year. Trump criticised an Israeli strike on an Iranian gas field early in the war, called Netanyahu “crazy” in June and complained that the fighting in Lebanon was slowing talks with Tehran. Asked about an endorsement earlier this month, he had claimed he was no longer involved in politics. Many Israelis are also frustrated that the war with Iran ended without a clear result.
Surveys suggest nobody is running away with it. Projections cited by US media give Likud around 18 to 22 of the 120 seats and the wider right-wing and religious camp roughly 50, short of the 61 needed to govern. Because Israelis vote for party lists, the real fight comes afterwards, when President Isaac Herzog hands the task of coalition building to whoever looks most likely to succeed.
Endorsing foreign leaders has become a habit for Trump in his second term. He has backed candidates in Hungary, Japan, Poland, Argentina and Honduras, with mixed results: Viktor Orbán, his favourite in Budapest, lost.
