Trump endorses Netanyahu nine days before Israel's 27 October election

US President Donald Trump has given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his "Complete and Total Endorsement" for the 27 October election, nine days before the vote and after weeks of refusing to say whether he would back him, Al Jazeera and CBS News reported on Sunday, 18 October 2026.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Netanyahu "Strong, Brave, and Brilliant" and "a Great Warrior Prime Minister", and wrote: "BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Netanyahu thanked him on X for his "tremendous support", and his Likud party put out a 35-second video of the two leaders together.

Trump's Netanyahu endorsement: key points

• Election day: 27 October 2026, Israel's first national vote since the Hamas attack of October 2023.
• The race: tight. Likud and its far-right allies face an opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, Al Jazeera reported.
• The warning: "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," Trump wrote, linking the vote to the war on Iran.
• On Iran: Trump said Iran had been "systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially" and threatened to "soon finish the job" unless it changed course.

Why it took so long

The two leaders launched a joint war on Iran on 28 February, and have clashed during it. Earlier this month Trump repeatedly avoided endorsing Netanyahu in an interview with Time magazine. In June he admitted calling him "f***ing crazy" in a phone call over Israel's strikes on Lebanon, which he had asked Netanyahu to stop to protect a short-lived April ceasefire with Iran.

Trump told Axios on Sunday the endorsement was never in doubt: "I was always going to do that. I just didn't want to do it too soon." Asked whether he could work with another Israeli leader, he said: "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Who wants to take the chance?"

Will it help Netanyahu?

Trump is popular in Israel, which makes his backing valuable. But CBS News noted that many Israelis, including leading commentators, are disappointed with the inconclusive end of the Iran war and with Trump's ceasefire proposal, which fell short of key goals. At home, a Pew Research Center poll this month found about two in three US voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the war, which has pushed up fuel prices, weeks before the 3 November US midterm elections.

Why it matters in Pakistan

Pakistan does not recognise Israel, but the Iran war that sits at the centre of this election reaches readers here directly. The war has driven up fuel prices, and oil prices feed into what Pakistanis pay at the pump (see today's petrol price), and Pakistan has suspended trade with Iran at Taftan and Gabd-Rimdan. A Netanyahu win, with Trump's threat to "finish the job" in Iran, would keep that risk alive on Pakistan's western border.