The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, boasted of Donald Trump’s support on the eve of Israel’s elections, suggesting that the two leaders could resume their war against Iran if he wins, after Trump stated that they should “finish the job”.
“The U.S. president, Donald Trump, brought a friendship that has never existed before between an Israeli prime minister and a U.S. president. And it’s unlikely we’ll ever have another president as friendly as him,” Netanyahu said in a television appearance on Sunday night. “He still has two more years, and he says he’s asking you to vote for me.”
In his own post on social media on Sunday, Trump, who launched the war against Iran together with Netanyahu in February, stated: “Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for prime minister, we have to finish the job we started!”
Netanyahu said that Trump was willing to take measures “that would finally, finally, eliminate the Iranian threat,” but only while Netanyahu himself remained in power.
“And I have already instructed Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to topple that regime, to topple that regime, because that is the only way to end this threat,” Netanyahu said, referring to Israel’s main intelligence service and its armed forces.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Netanyahu’s statements.
Netanyahu’s main opponent, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and centrist Gadi Eisenkot, posted his own remarks on social media, praising Trump as “a true friend of Israel”.
“I value his efforts and his commitment to Israel’s security, and I am confident that he will work in full cooperation with any leader chosen by the people.”
Tuesday’s vote, the first in Israel since Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023, is the first opportunity for voters to weigh in on the worst security failure in generations and the multi-front wars that followed.
With Netanyahu already leading the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, politics has shifted even further to the right. Almost all Jewish-led parties, including hardline Eisenkot’s, now oppose the “two-state solution” that underpinned decades of peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
But many voters say that the long-serving leader’s divisive politics weakens the country. Polls suggest Netanyahu’s Likud Party will lose seats, which could deprive his coalition — formed by right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties — of its slim majority.
Eisenkot and a series of opposition parties — ranging from the remnants of the center-left to the right — also do not have a clear path to remove him.
James Whitmore