Netanyahu pressed Trump for election backing in two calls

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached out to US President Donald Trump in recent days asking him to show stronger public support for his re-election campaign, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported Sunday, citing an American official and an Israeli official involved in the matter.

According to the report, Netanyahu spoke with Trump twice over the past three days, asking him to reinforce his backing following the endorsement Trump posted on Truth Social last week.

Netanyahu went as far as proposing language Trump could use in further statements of support, and suggested the American president hold conversations and interviews with Israeli reporters to express additional backing.

White House officials view Netanyahu's aggressive lobbying as "a sign of distress" and evidence that the prime minister's office fears he is trailing in the polls, according to the report.

The pressure from Netanyahu comes after final polls from Israel's three main television networks showed his bloc far short of the 61-seat Knesset majority, standing at around 50 seats, with Likud itself shrinking to around 20 seats in the surveys. By contrast, a Channel 14 poll presented a different picture, projecting 60 seats for the Netanyahu bloc.

White House officials and Trump associates note that from the president's perspective, this is a "win-win" situation: if Netanyahu wins, Trump can take credit for the political rescue and use it as leverage; if Netanyahu loses, the new Israeli government will still have a clear interest in maintaining close relations with his administration.

Additionally, some of Trump's advisers see a change of government in Israel as an opportunity to advance his own Middle East agenda. Neither the White House nor the Prime Minister's Office responded to the report.

Netanyahu in conversation with Trump (Photo: Spokesperson)

Exactly one week ago, in an unusual and largely unprecedented move, Trump published an appeal "to the great people of Israel" calling on the public to support Netanyahu in the upcoming elections.

He wrote: "Benjamin Netanyahu has been a great warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater partner for peace in the fight against 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,'" Trump opened.

The president continued on the Iranian theme: "What country can survive when statements like that are allowed to be made, because eventually they always come true? It was only a matter of time before Iran would carry out this threatening slogan. However, it has been systematically destroyed, both militarily and economically, and if it doesn't change its ways quickly, we will soon finish the job."

The president added a veiled threat that "if Israel has the wrong leader, meaning anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this job itself, and I have no inclination to do that," Trump wrote.

The US president praised the prime minister, saying "Benjamin Netanyahu has been strong, courageous, and brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including opposition that came even from within Israel itself. Despite all this, he held firm, and in fact even thrived!"

Trump shared a personal testimony: "I have watched Bibi during the most difficult times. Ordinary men and women would have collapsed under the pressure in such situations, but Bibi did not collapse. In fact, he only grew stronger, and he maintains that same strength today. This is the kind of partner that the United States of America demands from Israel, a country that has done so much for it. Please consider this letter my full and complete expression of support for Benjamin Netanyahu in his upcoming race for re-election as Prime Minister of Israel," Trump wrote, ending with the sentence: "Bibi Netanyahu will never let you down."

Shortly after the message was posted, Prime Minister Netanyahu published a thank-you message to President Trump, writing: "Thank you President Trump for the tremendous support and joint work, together we will finish the job," accompanied by a video showing the two of them.