Trump endorses ally Netanyahu in upcoming Israeli election: 'Strong, Brave, and Brilliant'
It will be Israel's first vote since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023
US President Donald Trump has endorsed his ally Benjamin Netanyahu as the longtime Israeli prime minister struggles for an edge in next week's parliamentary election.
Ins a sprawling social media post Trump said Netanyahu was a "great warrior prime minster" and peace partner, crediting him with joining the United States in launching strikes on Iran in February.
The conflict, in its seventh month, has disrupted energy markets globally and wreaked havoc across the Middle East, damaging critical infrastructure and destabilizing regional economies.
"Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump has broken with longtime US tradition by endorsing candidates in elections in foreign countries, including Hungary, Colombia, Argentina, Japan and Honduras.
Trump’s full endorsement of Netanyahu read:
“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. 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.”
The Trump endorsement is not certain to give Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party a boost in the October 27 national election, as Israeli public support for Trump has diminished amid Israeli-US disagreements over Iran.
Polls have suggested no candidate has a clear path to power. Israel's prime minister is chosen through coalition-building in parliament rather than by direct popular vote.
It will be Israel's first vote since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that shook the country and plunged the Middle East into turmoil, as Israel went to war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The election could determine whether Netanyahu remains in power after one of the most consequential periods in Israel’s history, or is defeated by centrist rivals promising to usher in a new era.
Netanyahu promptly expressed his thanks to Trump on X, saying, "Together we will complete the mission!"
Trump’s endorsement comes after the photographer with The Washington Post who was attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank said she was increasingly angry that Israel's military seems to protect settlers more than the Palestinians they threaten.
The attack on Heidi Levine and Palestinians during the sensitive olive harvest — followed a day later by an attack on European diplomats in a Christian village — again highlights the rampant settler violence that Netanyahu has blamed on a small number of troublemakers.
Levine, from her hospital bed, told The Associated Press she was "shocked and insulted" that Netanyahu referred to the attack on her and others as alleged, adding that the prime minister "had all the evidence on the table."
US diplomats visited the Christian Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday following attacks by militant Israeli settlers on European diplomats in the previous days.
Riley Barnes, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, Brian Burch, US ambassador to the Holy See, and a number of other diplomats visited the Latin Convent church and were expected to meet with members of the Christian community in Taybeh.
