Trump Endorses Netanyahu and Ties Iran to Israel's Vote. Stand With Israel, but Let Israelis Choose.

President Donald Trump has picked a side in Israel's election.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday addressed to "the Great People of Israel," Trump gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his "Complete and Total Endorsement" ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 vote, Reuters reported. He called Netanyahu "a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran."

"Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself," Trump wrote.

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

A warning attached to the endorsement

The post went beyond praise. Trump again threatened to "soon finish the job" against Iran "unless they change their ways, rapidly." Then he tied that to the election. "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," he wrote, according to the Associated Press, via CBS News.

Netanyahu thanked Trump on X: "Together we will complete the mission!" In a separate video, he said he was "honored and humbled" and that there has "never been a greater friend of Israel in the White House." He also spoke directly to Americans: "If you're worried about today's gas prices, think of what will happen if Iran gets nuclear weapons — something that Donald Trump and I will never allow."

A tight race in a weary country

The vote will be Israel's first national election since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Polls suggest no candidate has a clear path to power, and Israel's prime minister is chosen by building a coalition in parliament, not by direct popular vote, Reuters reported.

The AP reported that Trump had withheld the endorsement for months as the two leaders' strategies diverged. Trump remains popular in Israel, but many Israelis have voiced disappointment over the inconclusive outcome of the nearly eight-month Iran war and Trump's ceasefire proposal. Netanyahu's government, the most nationalist in Israel's history, faces criticism at home over security failures.

Trump has broken with long-standing U.S. practice by endorsing candidates in foreign elections, including in Hungary, Colombia, Argentina, Japan and Honduras, according to Reuters.

Opinion: Stand with Israel, and let Israelis vote

Christians have good reason to care about Israel. God's promise to Abraham, "I will bless them that bless thee" (Genesis 12:3), has shaped how millions of American believers think about the Jewish people. Israel is a democracy and an ally surrounded by enemies who want it destroyed, and Iran must never have a nuclear weapon.

None of that requires an American president to tell Israelis whom to elect. Friendship between nations rests on shared interests and shared values, not on one man. Israel's voters have lived through rockets, tunnels, hostages and war. They are fully able to judge their own leaders.

The more troubling line is the one about Iran. Whether the United States goes back to war is among the gravest decisions a president can make. It should turn on American security and the judgment of our own elected leaders, not on how a coalition forms in the Knesset. Saying America is "not inclined" to act if Israelis pick someone else sounds less like strategy and more like pressure.

Dock Line reported this week that officials told CNN and CBS the Pentagon has plans that could use the "Mother of All Bombs" on Iran. Americans paying for this war at the gas pump, and families who have buried service members, deserve to hear the case for war or peace made on its merits.

Scripture tells believers to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6). That is the right posture this week: pray for Israel's peace and security, respect its right to choose its own government and insist that America's decisions about war be made for America's reasons.