Trump hedges on Netanyahu ahead of Israel's October 27 election — SkimNews
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- Trump has not endorsed Netanyahu ahead of the October 27 Israeli election, dodging a direct endorsement three times in a recent Time magazine interview while defending Netanyahu's leadership ahead of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack.
- Netanyahu's Likud and far-right coalition face a growing threat from Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot and an opposition bloc, with Eisenkot promising a more moderate approach including stemming settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
- Trump's first term produced major pro-Israel actions including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and brokering normalization agreements with Arab countries.
- Trump has hosted Netanyahu at least seven times since returning to the White House in January 2025—far more than any other world leader—and publicly called for his pardon in his ongoing corruption trial.
- Vice President JD Vance has openly opposed Netanyahu's role in pushing the US to strike Iran, reflecting a wider divide in the Trump administration and the Republican Party ahead of US midterm elections.
- An Israeli Democracy Institute poll released in June found only 44% of Jewish Israelis thought Israel's security was a top consideration for Trump, down sharply from 61% in March shortly after the US and Israel launched their war with Iran.
- Netanyahu has shifted his campaign strategy, abandoning billboards boasting his relationship with Trump and instead featuring regional adversaries including Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Why it matters: Trump's withheld endorsement reveals a visible crack in the US-Israel alignment: Republican confidence in Netanyahu has declined, Vance and others in the administration openly oppose his influence on Iran policy, and Netanyahu himself has dropped Trump imagery from his campaign for the first time. With both the October 27 Israeli vote and US midterms approaching, the relationship's political value is cooling on both sides.
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