From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Trump gives ‘warrior’ Netanyahu ‘complete and total endorsement’ for reelection
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
US President Donald Trump offers his “complete and total endorsement” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before Israel’s October 27 election, calling him “a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
In a post to his Truth Social, Trump writes in all caps that Netanyahu “WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
“Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition,” writes Trump, “including that coming from even Israel, itself.”
Trump says Netanyahu has “endured and, in fact, he has thrived!”
“I have watched Bibi under the most trying of times,” writes Trump. “Normal men or women in such situations would have wilted under the pressure — But Bibi did not wilt, he actually got stronger, and maintains that same Strength today. This is the kind of Partner that the United States of America is demanding of Israel, a Country for which it has done so much.”
Trump also justifies the US-Israel campaign against Iran, saying the Islamic Republic ultimately would have tried to carry out its promise to “destroy the Little Satan and the Big Satan.”
Iran, he says, has been “systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job.”
“If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi,” he writes, “America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.”
The Times of Israel Community.