President Trump did not endorse Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s elections — Al Jazeera
US President Donald Trump did not publicly endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the October 27 elections. In an interview with Time magazine, he avoided giving a direct answer three times regarding support for the Israeli prime minister, although he positively assessed his leadership before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Al Jazeera reports this. Asked about Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said he had not heard anything bad about him.
A long-standing alliance without direct support
Netanyahu’s Likud party and the ultraright coalition it leads will compete against an opposition bloc that Eisenkot seeks to form. Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel program at the Arab Center Washington DC, believes Trump’s public restraint is notable given the history of his relationship with Netanyahu and his previous support for right-wing allies.
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During his first presidential term, Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and helped broker normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries. After returning to the White House in January 2025, he also called for Netanyahu to be pardoned in a corruption case and hosted him at the White House at least seven times.
A changing political backdrop
International Crisis Group analyst Mairav Zonszein links Trump’s caution, in particular, to disagreements within his administration over Netanyahu’s government and a broader split in the Republican Party ahead of the US midterm elections. According to her, Vice President J.D. Vance publicly opposed Netanyahu’s role in seeking to persuade the United States to launch strikes on Iran.
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute released in June showed that 44% of Jewish Israelis considered Israel’s security to be one of Trump’s main considerations, compared with 61% in March. Zonszein also noted that Netanyahu is not using billboards in this election cycle that displayed his closeness with Trump, instead focusing on Israel’s regional and international opponents.
