President Trump on Sunday issued a strong endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the upcoming October 27 Israeli elections and said that if Netanyahu lost, the US would have to “finish the job” against Iran without Israeli support.
“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?” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“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 added.
Trump concluded the post by saying it should serve as his “Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel,” adding that “BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
Israeli opposition figures expressed criticism of Trump’s attempt to influence Israel’s election, with Gadi Eisenkot, the leading opposition candidate, saying he tried to prevent it. “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,” he said.
For his part, Netanyahu welcomed the endorsement. “President Trump, my dear friend Donald. I’m so honored and humbled by your extraordinary endorsement. I can say there’s never been a greater friend of Israel in the White House,” he said in a video statement.
Netanyahu also addressed Americans, suggesting that if they were worried about high gas prices, it would have been worse if Iran obtained a nuclear weapon. While both Trump and Netanyahu continue to frame the war as meant to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, there was no evidence either before the June 2025 war or the current conflict that Tehran had decided to make a bomb.
Axios noted in its report on the endorsement that it marked the first time in history a US president explicitly and publicly endorsed a candidate in an Israeli election. Trump told the outlet he had always planned to endorse Netanyahu but didn’t want to do it too soon.
