JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his tough campaign for reelection this month, calling him “a Great Warrior.”
Citing Iran’s chants of “Death to Israel, Death to America,” Trump described Netanyahu as a “Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“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,” Trump wrote in a social media post addressing the people of Israel. “Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel.”
He added, “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. BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
Netanyahu, who has led Israel for nearly 19 of the past 30 years, is fighting for political survival in an election that has largely centered on his handling of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and the protracted wars that have followed. Many of his domestic critics have faulted him for prolonging the war in Gaza to appease his hawkish far-right allies, and for permitting ultra-Orthodox Jews to forgo military service to appease that sizable religious voter bloc.
Netanyahu and his supporters have insisted that he has shown strength and is the leader needed for Israel’s defense. Critics say he should be accountable for the security failings that led to the Oct. 7 attack, the most deadly in the country’s history.
It’s not clear whether Trump’s endorsement will shift the momentum of the race in Netanyahu’s favor after he has spent months trailing slightly in most polls, but it’s a significant development in a country that regards Israel’s relationship with the White House as paramount.
Trump’s endorsement comes just as Netanyahu is facing a string of controversies at home, including reports that he ignored warnings from his security chiefs and Arab leaders in the days before Oct. 7 and mounting international furor over settler attacks in the West Bank.
On Friday and Saturday, settlers in the West Bank town of Abu Falah severely beat a Washington Post photographer, who was wearing a vest clearly identifying her as press, and settlers attacked European diplomats visiting the town of Taybeh, according to eyewitnesses and video footage.
Netanyahu has questioned the accounts of those attacked, while reasserting his backing for Israeli residents in the West Bank.
The attacks have injected a potentially volatile issue into the final days of the campaign, and Netanyahu’s opponents have seized on the news to criticize him for not enforcing the law.
Other Israeli officials have expressed dismay over the violence.
Israel President Isaac Herzog apologized and lamented both attacks, telling the photographer, Heidi Levine: “As president of the State of Israel, I strongly condemn this outrageous and shocking phenomenon of violence — both in the terrible attack you endured and in other serious incidents.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also issued a statement condemning the attack, saying: “Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison. We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this.”
With nine days to go before the Oct. 27 election, Netanyahu’s office has cast doubt on the eyewitness accounts and video evidence in both cases.
“These reports come amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest, relying on sensational headlines before the full facts emerge,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Saturday.
The statement added: “We call on the public and responsible journalists to demand verifiable evidence, reject hearsay, and refuse to turn unproven allegations into a collective indictment of the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.”
However, Palestinian residents of the West Bank, victims of settler violence and human rights advocates say Netanyahu’s office repeatedly dismisses verifiable evidence while supporting the settlers whose outposts often violate both Israeli and international law.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), who reported being detained by settlers and Israeli soldiers during a visit to the West Bank in July, said Netanyahu’s unwillingness to hear evidence of settler misconduct was part of a pattern.
“Netanyahu called me a liar when settlers detained me, along with a NYT photographer, in Zanuta this past July,” Khanna posted on X. “Now, he is calling a Washington Post photographer a liar. Netanyahu, you are the liar with the blood of Palestinian children on your hands.”
After the attack that injured Levine, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying, “The Prime Minister’s Office: The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation.”
The statement added: “Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths.”
However, eyewitnesses, whose accounts were corroborated by video evidence, said masked settlers descended down an embankment hurling stones, firing weapons and setting olive trees on fire in what appeared to be a coordinated assault intended to disrupt the annual olive harvest.
“Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone — Jews, Arabs, Christians or journalists,” the prime minister’s statement said. “Those responsible will be held accountable. But serious questions remain.”
Israeli opposition politicians, however, have accused Netanyahu and members of his right-wing government of turning a blind eye to violence by settlers.
On Sunday, Israeli police officers visited Levine at a hospital near Tel Aviv where she is being treated, to hear her account of the attack.
Levine has said that a group of men wearing Jewish ritual tassels known as tzitzit knocked her to the ground, severely beat her including with sticks, kicked her repeatedly and stole her cameras and phone.
She suffered lacerations across her body, two broken ribs and four broken vertebrae, and she had surgery on Saturday on a finger that was ripped open, exposing bone.
Netanyahu himself has not publicly addressed the incidents and has not commented further beyond statements issued by his office in which he cast doubt on the accounts of what happened.
The European delegation — composed of French, Belgian and Polish representatives — had gone to Taybeh to visit farmers picking olives, said Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of the local church.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it condemned the targeting of diplomatic representatives, adding that the visit had not been coordinated in advance with the military, which it said was required to avoid such incidents.
European capitals decried the incident, with France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, calling for the arrest of those responsible. His Belgian counterpart, Maxime Prévot, deplored all attacks in the West Bank and said the violence needed to stop. “Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack,” he said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Trump “does not want to see friction or anything, a crisis going on in the West Bank.”
He added that he’s expecting more information from the U.S. Embassy in Israel on the incident involving Levine. “The whole thing was just disturbing. … Not a good look.”
Shira Efron, a senior fellow at the Rand think tank, expects that Netanyahu will have to take action, unlike in past incidents, given the international pressure and the fact that this involves The Post as well as diplomats.
“They’ll do more than what we’ve seen in recent months and years. This time they’ll actually take a step, maybe even make an arrest,” she said.
But whatever is done would largely be a face-saving measure, meant to show that action was taken, Efron said. “If I had to guess, they’ll arrest a few people, but it will be minors. They’ll be released from custody, the case will be dropped quickly, and it will be a drop in the bucket.”
Efron said U.S. pressure on Netanyahu is significant, especially coming from Huckabee, whom the prime minister has called a “dear friend.”
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