DOMINANT ANGLE
The United States weighs the electoral effect of Trump's support for Netanyahu: a late boost nine days before the vote, as his coalition is lagging in the polls.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Trump posted his "Complete and Total Endorsement" of Netanyahu on Truth Social Sunday, October 18, nine days before the October 27 legislative elections (Axios).
- 02
According to Axios, most polls place Netanyahu's coalition below the 61 seats needed to form a government.
- 03
Trump claims that if Israel chooses "anyone other than Bibi", America will have to act alone against Iran, to which he is "not inclined" (Axios, NPR).
ANALYSIS
Washington, October 19, 2026. On Sunday, October 18, Donald Trump posted a "letter" on Truth Social giving his "Complete and Total Endorsement" to Benyamin Netanyahu, a candidate for re-election in the Israeli legislative elections on October 27, the first since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. In it, he describes the Prime Minister as a "Great Warrior Prime Minister" and a "Partner for Peace" in the face of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The American press first emphasizes the calendar. Axios notes that the message arrives nine days before the vote, while "most polls" place Netanyahu's coalition below the 61 seats needed to govern, and claims that this is the first time an American president has explicitly and publicly supported a candidate in an Israeli election. AP, as reported by NPR and HuffPost, talks about a "coveted boost" that Trump had refused for months, while the strategies of the two leaders in the Middle East diverged. The lack of support was, according to the agency, a setback for the Likud leader, who had made his ties with the Republican president a campaign argument.
The content of the message is reported in detail. Trump writes that if Israel has "the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi", America will have to do the work against Iran itself, which he is "not inclined" to do. Asked by Axios, he says: "I was always going to do that. I just didn't want to do it too soon." About a potential other Israeli interlocutor: "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Who wants to take the chance?" Time notes that this late support comes after months of disagreements over the conduct of the conflict launched jointly in February, which has disrupted markets.
Netanyahu thanked Trump on X ("Together we will complete the mission!"), and the Likud attached a 35-second video to its message showing the two men and the president's praise. In a separate video, as reported by CBS, the Prime Minister states that there has "never been a greater friend of Israel in the White House" and mentions the price of gasoline to talk about the Iranian nuclear issue.
AP notes that Trump remains popular in Israel, but that many Israelis, including prominent commentators, regret the inconclusive outcome of the war and the proposal for a ceasefire. His rival Gadi Eisenkot told Channel 12 that he respects the United States, according to Axios. The real effect of the support on a tight election remains, according to AP, uncertain.
