Trump Doubles Down on Netanyahu Two Days Before Israel Votes: 'We Have to Finish the Job'

President Trump just told Israel how to vote, again. On Sunday evening, two days before Israelis pick a new Knesset, he re-posted last week's endorsement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a fresh message on top: "Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started!"

The job he means is Iran. And the timing isn't an accident. The last polls Israelis were allowed to see show Netanyahu's camp stuck around 50 seats, well short of the 61 it takes to govern. In a race that close, the American president is the biggest name on Netanyahu's side of the ballot.

What Trump actually wrote

Trump's new Truth Social post is addressed "To the people of Israel, to those who haven't seen it." It pitches Netanyahu as a wartime partner, not a politician. "As everyone is aware, including the enemy, Bibi and I have had a great relationship in winning together," he wrote.

Then he ran the scoreboard: the Venezuela operation, Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran's nuclear program, and Operation Epic Fury. "Iran now has No Navy, No Air Force, and both their Military and Economy are in shambles, including the fact that Iran's Inflation is at 301%," Trump wrote. "The Naval Blockade has precluded them from getting Oil, and two levels of leadership, both Military and otherwise, are gone."

He closed on the chant Iran's regime has aimed at both countries for decades. "There can no longer be the chant heard around the World of 'Death to America, Death to Israel,' and there won't be," he wrote, calling Netanyahu "an outstanding Warrior Prime Minister."

Netanyahu didn't wait for the morning papers. Hours later he posted Trump's statement in Hebrew on his own account, so Israeli voters could read it in their own language.

The first endorsement, and the warning inside it

Most coverage skips what Trump said a week ago, and it's the bigger deal. His Oct. 18 post called itself his "Complete and Total Endorsement" and carried a blunt warning: "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."

Read that plainly. Trump is telling Israelis the Iran fight isn't finished, and that he wants the man who has fought it next to him to finish it. Change horses now, and Washington may not carry the load alone. That isn't meddling for sport. It's an ally telling another ally what the partnership needs.

The behind-the-scenes push

On Sunday, before the new post went up, Axios reported that Netanyahu spoke with Trump twice in three days and asked him to double down, even suggesting wording and proposing calls with Israeli reporters. Axios cited a U.S. source who said the White House saw the lobbying as a "sign of desperation."

Likud pushed back. Party spokesperson Neta Molcho denied that Netanyahu asked Trump to support his campaign "in recent days or before his endorsement statement." Either way, Trump decided to speak up, and he did it in his own words, on his own platform.

Where the race stands

Israeli law bars new polls in the final days before a vote, so Friday night's TV polls are the last word. All three major networks had former army chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party in first place and Likud second. Channel 12 had it 23 to 21. Kan 11 had 22 to 20. Channel 13 had 22 to 19.

But the outlier matters. An i24NEWS survey by Direct Polls of 5,124 adults had Likud first with 26 seats and Netanyahu's bloc at 59, two short of a majority. The other side has its own math problem. Even the friendliest network poll leaves the anti-Netanyahu camp at 56, so getting to 61 means leaning on Arab parties, and several parties in that camp have ruled out sitting with Mansour Abbas's Ra'am.

Voters don't agree on a fallback either. Kan asked what should happen if Eisenkot's bloc finishes ahead but short of 61: 27% said a unity government, 27% a repeat election, and 26% a minority government backed from outside by Arab parties.

What Eisenkot says

Eisenkot, who led the Israel Defense Forces, answered the first endorsement carefully. "I have great appreciation for the US president," he said at a Tel Aviv University event on Oct. 18, adding that "Israel's citizens are the only ones who will decide who the prime minister will be." Asked by Channel 12 whether he tried to stop the endorsement, he said, "I requested that there be no intervention in Israel's internal election."

He's right that Israelis decide. But voters are allowed to hear from the president whose Navy is enforcing the blockade on Iran. That's what Trump gave them.

What happens Tuesday

Polls close at 10 p.m. Israel time, and exit polls come out the moment they do. Israel's Central Elections Committee says 7.3 million people are eligible to vote at about 18,000 ballot boxes. A party needs 3.25% of the vote to win any seats, and several small parties hover right at that line, so a few thousand votes could reshuffle the blocs.

After the count, Israel's president consults every party and hands the first shot at forming a government to whoever has the best chance of reaching 61. If nobody gets there, Netanyahu stays on as caretaker prime minister while the bargaining goes on.

Netanyahu's closing pitch on X matched Trump's. "My life's mission is to lead the State of Israel. To protect our country," he wrote in Hebrew over a campaign video Sunday, asking voters for "only Likud."

The bottom line: Trump has put his name on the line for the ally who stood with him on Iran. Tuesday night, Israelis decide whether to keep that team together.