JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu basked in Donald Trump’s endorsement on Monday ahead of a closely fought election, releasing a phone call in which the US president predicted he would win and suggested that they might launch another joint attack on Iran.
A day after Trump publicly endorsed Netanyahu for the October 27 vote, Netanyahu released a video of a telephone call in which the two right-wing leaders lavished praise on each other.
“I think you’re going to have a tremendous victory, actually,” Trump can be heard saying over the speakerphone.
“You’re the man I want by my side, Bibi,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
Netanyahu, while reminding the famously loose-lipped president that they were speaking on an open line, praised Trump for joining Israel in attacking Iran in February.
“Donald, we have a job to finish,” Netanyahu said enthusiastically. “We’ll finish it together. We’ll finish it, and no one else will do it.”
Netanyahu did not elaborate but again described Iran’s clerical state, which remains in power nearly eight months after the joint attack, as “the greatest danger”.
Netanyahu appeared to be speaking to Trump from an air force base, where he had earlier released a video warning that he had been assured of Israel’s “capability to strike our enemies the moment it is required”.
‘Polarising figure’
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, had waited years for a US president willing to agree to attack Iran. However, Trump abruptly changed course in April and reached a ceasefire with Tehran, which is now in tatters.
Polls showed that Trump’s approval rating in Israel plunged following the ceasefire.
An Axios report on Tuesday that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had met Netanyahu in Israel the previous day fuelled speculation that US-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the reported meeting.
David Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said it was unclear whether Trump’s endorsement would have a “huge impact” on Israeli voters.
Netanyahu is “a polarising figure. You either love him or hate him,” Makovsky said. “How many undecideds are there? Not that many.”
Trump went ahead with the endorsement despite open tensions involving senior US officials. Vice President JD Vance has issued scathing criticism of Israel over the war with Iran, saying it had no friends other than the United States and needed to fall in line with US policy.
Makovsky said Trump’s move might indicate that he had secured an agreement from Netanyahu in return for the endorsement, although it was unclear what that might entail.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported recently, in a claim denied by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, that the Trump administration was pressing Netanyahu to form a government without his far-right allies, who have championed settler extremists in the West Bank and called for the expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza.
The newspaper said a more moderate unity government could then work towards normalising Israel’s relations with more Arab and Islamic countries. During the call, Netanyahu told Trump that he wanted to expand the so-called Abraham Accords, under which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalised relations with Israel in 2020.
Netanyahu described Trump as “by far, the greatest friend Israel has ever had”.
Since his first term, Trump has taken several major steps in support of Israel, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, which most countries do not recognise as Israel’s capital because of the dispute with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, expressed respect for Trump following the endorsement but insisted: “Only Israelis can choose their leader.”
‘Treated unfairly’
Trump, 80, and Netanyahu, who turns 77 on Wednesday, have forged a close partnership at a time when both are deeply unpopular among the public in many democratic countries.
The pair have also managed to avoid prosecution while in power, with Netanyahu facing corruption charges that could land him in prison.
Trump, who remains bitter over the cases against him, including those related to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, told Netanyahu he was a “warrior” who had been “treated unfairly by your country and by some others”.
Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel’s relentless offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu has denounced the charges, while the Trump administration has sought to undermine the court in The Hague through sanctions.