By María Paula Mijares Torres

US President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following months of increasing strain between the two leaders.

Trump’s endorsement marks a late intervention in Israel’s election, reversing months of public hesitation and renewed tensions with Netanyahu just nine days before the October 27 election, the first since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and injuring and capturing hundreds more.

“Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “Please let this Letter serve to represent my Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel.”

Netanyahu is in a close race to keep his leadership position as tensions from the Iran war and the conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank test his popularity. At the same time, Trump is also less popular in Israel than at the beginning of the Iran war in February.

The prime minister’s top election rival, Gadi Eisenkot, thanked Trump for being an Israeli ally, but added in an interview on Israeli Channel 12 on Sunday that the election is an internal matter.

“Only the citizens of Israel will decide who will be the next prime minister,” he said.

It used to be rare for US presidents to publicly weigh in on foreign elections, but Trump has sought to make his mark on behalf of his favoured leaders or candidates around the world.

The two leaders’ once-tight bond has loosened over Netanyahu’s failure to toe Trump’s line on Gaza, Lebanon and the Iran war.

As recently as Thursday, Trump stopped short of an endorsement and said he didn’t “trust anybody” in politics. In an interview with Time magazine earlier this month, Trump sidestepped multiple questions about Netanyahu’s re-election bid. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn, “We haven’t even thought about it.