Trump Doubles Down on Netanyahu on Election Eve: "Finish the Job We Started"
A second endorsement two days before the vote
U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening, October 25, urging Israelis to vote for "Bibi" in Tuesday's October 27 parliamentary election. "Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started!" he wrote on Truth Social, re-attaching his October 18 endorsement and praising Netanyahu as "an outstanding Warrior Prime Minister."
The reported request behind the repeat endorsement
According to an Axios scoop published October 25, Netanyahu spoke with Trump twice in the previous three days and asked him to double down on last week's Truth Social endorsement, even suggesting language for additional statements of support. Israeli outlets including The Times of Israel and JNS framed the Sunday post as a direct response to that request.
Tying the endorsement to Iran
Trump's renewed message centered on the joint campaign against Iran. He cited Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury, claimed Iran now has "no navy, no air force," put Iran's inflation at 301%, said a naval blockade had kept Tehran from getting oil, and said two levels of Iranian leadership, "both military and otherwise," were gone. He also cited the Venezuela operation and wrote that chants of "Death to America, Death to Israel" must no longer be heard, referring to pro-regime rallies where Israel is called "The Little Satan" and the United States "The Big Satan."
The warning attached to the first endorsement
In his October 18 endorsement, Trump had gone further, warning that "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," while threatening to "soon finish the job" against Iran "unless they change their ways, rapidly." Netanyahu publicly thanked Trump, saying Israel "has never had a greater friend in the White House" and that together they would never let Iran obtain nuclear weapons.
A denial about what was traded for the endorsement
Netanyahu told Channel 14's The Patriots that he did not offer Trump anything for the endorsement. Channel 13's Moriah Asraf reported that he had promised the administration to advance reconstruction in parts of Gaza despite the areas not being demilitarized, a claim the Prime Minister's Office disputed. Trump himself had told Newsmax that Netanyahu would like him to be involved, while adding, "I don't trust anybody in the world of politics." Earlier in October he told TIME, "I'm not involved in [Israeli] politics anymore."
