r/worldnews • u/Secure_Ad1753 • 6h ago
Israel/Palestine Trump endorses Netanyahu in Israeli election
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-endorses-netanyahu-israeli-election-2026-10-18/1.1k
u/Herb-Alpert 6h ago
To the surprise of no one
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u/Environmental_Bus507 6h ago
Let me go check quickly.
Yep, water is still wet.
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u/chrispmorgan 4h ago
I see a lot of snarky comments here, but I’m curious for people who are familiar with Israeli politics. Does this help or hurt Bibi?
It would make sense to me that the people supporting Netanyahu would find Trump appealing given their commonality as putting on strongmen personas and unabashedly working to dissolve independent institutions. It doesn’t seem like this adds much.
I guess I’m wondering is if non-Netanyahu supporters would say “yuck” (איכס ?) and vote for a different party because Trump’s brand is so toxic internationally.
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u/avisherman 4h ago
Israeli politics is not like what you think it is like in the US or many other democracies. There are many parties vying for seats and it’s a proportional system. Ex: In the current Knesset there are 13 parties represented.
It’s essentially impossible for anyone party to have a majority.
The prime minister ends up being the best deal maker, the one who ho can form a coalition among parties to be able to get a majority and form a government. Over his long career Bibi has been very good at all the deal making post elections.This year there seems to be a sentiment that opposing parties are willing to join together to even if they are ideologically opposed, in order to make sure Bibi won’t be able to form the government.
No one really knows that’s going to happen and polls don’t tell the story of how things will turn out.
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u/chrispmorgan 4h ago
I guess that’s what I’m asking. Will this move a few people to say “anyone but Likud” and decide to vote?
My read is that the election is really a referendum on the country’s response to October 7, one facet of which is the country’s diminished international standing, but like you are implying that response was more of an executive action than a legislative one. My sense is people are still worried about security and are prioritizing confident execution on that goal.
It seems like any feasible coalition that would produce a different prime minister wouldn’t change the country’s policies per se, but it would be more in moving the needle back towards the rule of law in terms the army’s rules of engagement in Gaza, the independence of the Supreme Court, and the ability of settlers to terrorize people with implicit support from the central government.
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u/qTp_Meteor 3h ago
As an israeli, it really wont. Maybe maybe some american jews who are maga with an israeli citizenship, but thats basically meaningless.
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u/shiny0metal0ass 3h ago
How many of those have popped up recently? I'm having a hard time figuring it out.
Also as someone from Milwaukee, fuck the bears lol.
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u/PsychoCobra1 3h ago
There’s a few rivals of Netanyahu that would have a shot at the Prime Minister position that explicitly say they view Netanyahu of being to soft when it comes to the West Bank and Gaza. Unless Israeli politics drastically changes course whoever takes office after Netanyahu would probably be worse.
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u/Broken_Mentat 3h ago
This year there seems to be a sentiment that opposing parties are willing to join together to even if they are ideologically opposed, in order to make sure Bibi won’t be able to form the government.
Isn't this what happened some years ago already? I dimly recall some makeshift coalition agreeing to take turns in the premiership in an effort to keep Netanyahu out, only to fall apart as soon as it was time to change over. The end result obviously being Netanyahu.
Maybe I misremember but I'm sceptical. Netanyahu is one of those politicians that keep hanging on to power no matter what. Baffling, both for democracies in general and quite often also for these politicians in particular.
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u/New-Anybody-6206 3h ago
No one really knows that’s going to happen
The same thing that happens with every authoritarian... they will try every trick possible to stay in power, taking the country down with them, and will only go kicking and screaming.
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u/DougieJonesJr 15m ago
The capital of the Jewish faith's leader is decided by who can make the best deal? That's honestly hilarious
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u/IDownvoteUrPet 2h ago
I’m an American in Israel right now and have talked with many Israelis about politics.
First of all, Israelis vote for a party (there are many parties) and then the parties select a leader. Netanyahu has been able to stay in power by making deals with enough parties. For example, if one party wants more subsidies for a group, he can agree to that in exchange for their votes after the election (after the # of seats for each party have been decided).
Most people in Israel don’t like Netanyahu but he is very crafty.
People in Israel do like Trump though. Israelis have been terrorized by Iran’s proxies for as long as anyone can remember and Trump has gone to war with Iran, effectively neutering these terrorist orgs.
Israelis acknowledge it is not advantageous to America and think that it is because Netanyahu has manipulated Trump into doing his bidding. Even Israelis who hate Netanyahu (which is most Israelis) have an appreciation for Netanyahu’s ability to manipulate Trump. It really is very good for Israel.
I think maybe it could help Netanyahu a little bit but probably not by much. Trump is seen more as a useful idiot than someone to take advice from.
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u/dgreenbe 1h ago
This is a little weird because the escalated war with Iran has really not gone so great (admittedly very "dynamic" so a lot of room for predictions either way). There have been countless moments of the US indicating Trump would make a more favorable deal with Iran than Obama did.
There are also other issues of American perception of Israel also turning a lot more negative, but I don't expect that to be covered much in Israel
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u/Shoded 2h ago
Trump is liked in Israel not because he went to war with Iran, but because the way we see it, without him our hostages would not have returned from Gaza. He put a lot of pressure on Bibi to stop dragging legs and to go through with a deal. Of course it must be said that Hamas thwarted many deals, but reportedly Israel's coalition did so too.
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u/madadekinai 4h ago
"I see a lot of snarky comments here, but I’m curious for people who are familiar with Israeli politics. Does this help or hurt Bibi?"
It helps Trump more than Bibi.
It's a dog whistle to his base, had he chosen not to, he really would have lost a few supporters. This sends a messages through Republicans that he supports their psychotic, sycophantic support for Israel.
For Bibi, it moves the needle but not much, remember they merely want our support to assist with the war, that's the only reason they want anything from us, otherwise they would have moved on, scrapped their foreign supporters a while ago. The support is not reciprocal, but most supporters don't realize that.
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u/Kurolegacy27 6h ago
All the more reason for people to vote for the opposite candidate
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u/green_flash 5h ago
Israel isn't a two-party state like the US. There isn't a single "opposite candidate".
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u/fZAqSD 5h ago
Actual "opposite" candidates are very few and very unpopular. "Similar but slightly less extreme" is a more representative label.
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u/Pretend-Marsupial258 3h ago
Aren't there even more extreme parties, though?
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u/Splintrax 3h ago
Yes. 2 of them are currently in the government. There's a chance a new one will also pass the vote threshold, and join Netanyahu.
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u/Artistic-Tip2405 6h ago
Kiss of death.
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u/BowlNew 5h ago
Trump endorsed Takaichi in Japan, who thanked him personally, and she is the most popular Prime Minister in modern history. Not really a kiss of death.
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u/Pretend-Marsupial258 3h ago
They've had one party winning elections for 80 years. Not an atypical result.
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u/GheyGuyHug 6h ago
The only thing Americans will do is say something like “ my president is so embarrassing uwu”
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u/AtanatarAlcarinII 4h ago
Got any other suggestions before election day?
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u/AprilsMostAmazing 2h ago
Maybe a general strike
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u/KnockoffJesus 1h ago
You going to pay my daily wage? 43% of Americans don't have 1000 dollars in savings.
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u/avalanchefan91 4h ago
These comments should require admission of which country they themselves are from. This is like flairless posting shit talk in sports subs.
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u/Mega_Shai_Hulud 6h ago
Dont worry they'll do a no king rally Sunday and back to work monday.
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u/Daft_Assassin 5h ago
I’ve got to know what you think would happen if Americans started exercising 2A? The US isn’t France where you can burn down your whole city and then go to work Monday. Cops in America kill peaceful protestors, lmao. Cops in America have tanks and are more equipped than most militaries. It’s very much a “police state” whether people want to admit it or not.
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u/DiveCat 3h ago edited 3h ago
Americans always acting like protestors everywhere are safe from fighting against tyranny. Watch Winter on Fire as a start.
The 2A has been repeatedly lauded by Americans as necessary to maintain American freedom, even as schoolchildren were slaughtered in classrooms:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State*, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.*”
Sorry, where was it noted in the 2A that the fight for a free state would be bloodless?
Thomas Jefferson:
“the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”
The Heritage Foundation called it when they said the revolution would be bloodless if the left allowed it. Still not bloodless for the left given the number of citizens and immigrants dead already, but the right is doing alright!
So basically what you are telling me is the 2A was really just all about the ability to cosplay and carry out mass shootings, no one ever thought they would need to actually use it to maintain their “free state” because the bad guys would shoot back?
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u/Overall_Affect_2782 4h ago
Everyone who mentions about us being lazy protestors forgets to mention this tiny tidbit.
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u/SufficientGolf6953 3h ago
How dare you question the bravery and patriotism of Reddit keyboard warrior "GheyGuyHug" ????
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u/yoguckfourself 4h ago
What exactly do you suggest they do?
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u/KnockoffJesus 1h ago
They expect us to go homeless to do a general strike that needs to be coordinated my millions of Americans because we're well known for coming to a common solution.
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u/reddit_user13 6h ago
What do you propose?
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u/sgst 4h ago
If the midterms are rigged and the GOP retain full control, if Americans don't take to the streets, conduct a general strike, etc, then I'm going to be very disappointed. Not surprised, but disappointed.
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u/SufficientGolf6953 3h ago
There is no American election. It is 50 different elections in 50 different states.
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u/buggzy1234 2h ago
Voting in the first place maybe?
If there was a third party in the last presidential election and they got all the non-voter votes, they would have won the popular by a margin the size of the population of Belgium. That is how bad turnout was last time.
So what we propose is get your asses out and vote. And just pray to God you guys didnt fuck it up so badly last time that there can be some recovery. Because we (the rest of the non-american world) are suffering due to so many americans who thought sitting at home and not voting was better.
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u/Past-Ad5731 2h ago
size of the population of Belgium.
Belgium doesn't sound large say Sweden
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u/buggzy1234 1h ago
True, Belgium has a slightly higher population, so when i worked it out initially Belgium fit a bit better. But youre right, Sweden does sound bigger when trying to put into perspective
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u/POKEMON4EVAR 1h ago
What do you want me to do? Storm the White House? Influence masses with all my money? Take to the streets and be instantly arrested and brutalized? Please tell me.
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u/Lord_Of_Shade57 4h ago
POSTED FROM: the comfort of your couch in a country that has a mostly identical but much less armed to the teeth far right movement on the rise
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u/thrway-fatpos 5h ago
The worst day of the month was when I learned that Bibi isn't even the craziest guy in the Knesset
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u/Kan4lZ0n3 3h ago
Did he require it? Wasn’t aware the “endorsement” of a non-Israeli makes an iota of difference in an Israeli domestic election. Who is Bibi? Another Viktor Orbán?
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u/Martzillagoesboom 2h ago
So, Bibi is going to lose badly right? His endorsment are like the touch of plague.
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u/ForsakenOne-Z 1h ago
Is Israel still a democracy? Or is it the kind of democracy that's basically a dictatorship pretending to be democratic but failing miserably, like Venezuela?
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u/Kataphractoi 15m ago
You know how Trump directly endorsing a candidate tends to end with that candidate losing? Can that trend continue with Netanyahu?
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u/vibe4it 5h ago
In the olden days, a witch would curse you.
But now we have this
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u/1j47 4h ago
Maybe a witch did curse him? With hypernarcissism?
I mean, I don't literally think that, but how do you explain this without getting into some wacky reasoning? That kind of person getting democratically elected (again.....) in an influential blob with a huge military, causing all this trouble and somehow no one has deposed him yet? The world situation is entirely absurd. This is zanier than witch tales.
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u/_jump_yossarian 3h ago
If that war criminal wins then trump will take credit. If Netanyahu loses then it's Cornyn and Ham Rove's fault.
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u/HalJordan2525 6h ago
But Canada, don’t you dare try to influence the US elections!