Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged US President Donald Trump to show stronger public support for his campaign ahead of Tuesday’s election, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Netanyahu spoke with Trump twice in the past three days and asked him to reinforce a recent endorsement on his Truth Social platform, the sources said.
Trump issued another statement backing Netanyahu on Sunday, urging Israelis to vote for him and citing his hard-line stance on Iran, Axios reported.
Final pre-election polls published Friday by three major Israeli television networks showed Netanyahu’s coalition falling short of a parliamentary majority.
Trump endorsed Netanyahu last week after weeks of hesitation, suggesting that his defeat could affect US-Israeli relations.
One US official described the endorsement as beneficial to Trump regardless of the election outcome. Some of Trump’s advisers, however, see an opportunity to advance the president’s Middle East agenda under a different Israeli government.
