US President Donald Trump on Sunday, October 18, posted a letter-style endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Truth Social, offering what he called his "Complete and Total Endorsement" nine days before Israelis vote in a parliamentary election on October 27.

In the post, addressed to the people of Israel, Trump called Netanyahu a "Great Warrior Prime Minister" and "an even greater Partner for Peace" in confronting Iran.

Iran was central to Trump's message. He cited Tehran's chants of "Death to Israel, Death to America," claimed Iran had been "systematically destroyed, both militarily and economically," and warned that if it does not change course, "we will soon finish the job."

Trump warned that the choice of Israel's leader carries direct consequences for Washington: "If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi," he wrote, America would have to do the work itself — "I am not inclined to do so."

Netanyahu published Trump's letter and thanked him on X, writing of the "tremendous support and the joint work" and adding: "Together we will complete the mission!"

Israeli opposition leaders rejected the foreign intervention. Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the centrist Yashar party, told an election conference at Tel Aviv University: "Israel's citizens are the only ones who will decide who the prime minister will be." He later told Channel 12 he had asked that there be no intervention in Israel's internal election. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the B'Yachad party, said Trump's backing would not prevent cooperation with another Israeli government: "Ultimately, in international politics, every leader works with the leader who is elected."

The endorsement ends weeks of uncertainty. Earlier this month, Trump told Time magazine he was "no longer involved in Israeli politics," declining to endorse Netanyahu three times; days earlier, in a Newsmax interview, he said Netanyahu would like him to get involved but stopped short of an endorsement. Their relationship has been uneven at times, with Trump reported to be frustrated by Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza that he viewed as undermining his peace efforts.

The October 27 vote is Israel's first national election since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Published polling shows a close race, with Netanyahu's Likud and Eisenkot's Yashar trading the lead.

Sources: Associated Press, CBS News and PBS NewsHour reporting; Netanyahu's post on X; remarks by Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett at election events.