Despite praise and White House visits, Trump avoids endorsing Netanyahu

In a Time interview, Trump avoids directly endorsing Netanyahu but defends him over reports of warnings before October 7 attacks.United States President Donald Trump has avoided directly endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview ahead of Israel’s upcoming elections, despite repeatedly heaping praise – and White House visits – on the Israeli prime minister.Trump thrice avoided making an endorsement in an interview with Time magazine published on Thursday, instead pivoting to his own popularity in Israel and actions in support of Israel’s government.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Israel’s Netanyahu criticises opposition uniting against him for electionslist 2 of 3Trump administration ‘must be changed’: Iran’s IRGC appeals to US voterslist 3 of 3The October 7 warnings threatening Netanyahu’s Israeli election campaignend of listThe US president was initially asked if the “Israeli people should give Netanyahu another term?”“Well, I can only say that I’m not involved in politics any more, except that we’re popular,” Trump said, claiming “99 percent” popularity in Israel.When pressed a second time on whether Netanyahu should have another term, Trump pointed to Washington’s continued security support for Israel and his decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his first term.The interviewer responded: “It seems like you’re doing a lot of work for him. Should he have another term?”Trump replied: “No, my primary thing – I do want to help them defend Israel. My thing that I mention all the time is Iran cannot have a nuclear power because they are crazy and you can’t let crazy people have nuclear weapons.”Trump has repeatedly hailed his relationship with Netanyahu throughout his second term, even as government officials have leaked accounts of private discord between the two leaders.Trump has met with Netanyahu at least seven times since January 2025, more than any other leader, and has publicly pushed for a pardon in the Israeli leader’s ongoing corruption trial.