Until Sunday, Trump had declined to back any candidate. In a phone interview with Axios, he said the timing was deliberate. "I was always going to do that. I just didn't want to do it too soon," he said. Asked whether he could work with a different Israeli leader, he offered no assurance: "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Who wants to take the chance?"
Not everyone around Trump supported the move. The Jerusalem Post, citing two sources familiar with the details, reported that some of his closest advisers voiced concerns about publicly backing Netanyahu. The paper added that John McLaughlin, a pollster for both Trump and Netanyahu, may have influenced the decision with the data he held. Axios reported that some advisers believed Washington could pursue its Middle East goals more effectively with a different Israeli government.
Netanyahu thanked the president on X. "Thank you, President Trump, for the tremendous support and the joint work. Together we will complete the mission!" he wrote. In a video statement, he appealed directly to voters: "Therefore, I ask you: Listen to him, consider his words and vote for me."
In an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin that aired Saturday, Netanyahu said his goals for the final two years of Trump's term are to eliminate the Iranian threat, expand the Abraham Accords and harness artificial intelligence. "Let's complete the job and have the people of Iran seize their own future," he said. On Israel's Channel 14 on Sunday, he questioned whether his main challenger had the diplomatic experience to work with the American administration.
That challenger is Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff who heads the centrist Yashar party. JTA reported that Netanyahu has been trailing Eisenkot in recent surveys. "I have great respect for the president; he is a great friend of Israel. But the elections in Israel are an internal Israeli matter, and the only ones who will decide are the citizens of Israel," Eisenkot told Israel's Channel 12. He said there had been several meetings he would not discuss in detail, in which he had asked that the US not intervene in Israel's election.
Netanyahu's allies welcomed the endorsement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionist Party, said Israelis should listen to Trump "simply because he is right." Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote that Trump knows "only Netanyahu can maintain the historic cooperation between the two leaders, as well as between the IDF and the US military."
In Washington, Brian Romick, president and CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, called on Trump to retract the endorsement, describing it as "irresponsible and reckless." "Rhetoric like that is how a bipartisan, ironclad commitment becomes a political football," he wrote on X.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded on X: "Last time you wanted to 'finish the job,' Iran emerged even stronger. Want to try your luck again? Be our guest. But be careful; we have unfinished jobs too." He accused Netanyahu of driving America into another war "to stay out of jail."
Trump had raised the Abraham Accords two days before the endorsement. He told reporters at the White House on Friday that Saudi Arabia could join the normalization agreements and that Israel had been "very helpful" to the kingdom against the Houthis.
