World
Trump might just be getting tired of Netanyahu — and so might Israel
For the past 100 days, US President Donald Trump has communicated about the Iran war primarily in two ways: bombastic social media posts, and a seemingly endless stream of comments to reporters.
He frequently, almost inevitably, sends dissonant messages in these statements, most recently telling the Wall Street Journal that the Iranian downing of a US helicopter “wasn’t a big deal,” and also posting online that the US “must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
But an offhand remark he made on Monday night was especially peculiar: He suggested, without any evidence, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might not run for reelection this year.
“I don’t know, he’s had an amazing career,” Trump said, according to a Tuesday post on X by ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl. “Does he want to continue? Because, you know he’s a wartime prime minister. We will very shortly win the war one way or the other, and you know he’s a wartime prime minister.”
To be clear, the answer to Trump’s question is a resounding yes. Netanyahu has led Israel nearly uninterruptedly since 2009, has run in successive elections and is already actively campaigning in this one.
As the old adage goes, there are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and that Benjamin Netanyahu will run for prime minister. Shortly after Trump’s comment came to light, Netanyahu’s Likud party deigned to state the obvious, posting on X that Netanyahu “will run in the upcoming election, and, God willing, will win.”
Trump probably understands that. So what was his comment about? It might have been a commentary on Netanyahu’s health; the premier, 76, has had a number of health issues recently, including cancer, and Trump may have been hinting that after decades in politics and almost three years at war, his Israeli counterpart is tired.
Or maybe Trump was saying that he was getting tired of Netanyahu. If that’s the case, polls show that he isn’t alone.
A survey released on Tuesday, the same day Karl posted his interview, found that 61% of Israelis don’t want Netanyahu to run.
That overall statistic isn’t really news. Especially since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, most Israelis haven’t approved of the prime minister who was in office when it occurred. He has long held onto power by cultivating an unparalleled political base with his coalition of right-wing and religious parties, and by maintaining his status as the undisputed leader of that bloc.
That’s also why the survey was notable — because it showed that even among Netanyahu’s faithful, many don’t want him to run. One might expect that the Israeli right would almost unanimously want their longtime standard-bearer to press on, or at least that Likud, which has become nearly synonymous with Netanyahu, would give a vote of acclamation to the man who has won it election after election.
It is true that most right-wingers, and most Likudniks, want Netanyahu to run again. It’s also true that a lot of them don’t.
The survey found that 27% of the Israeli right — more than one in four — want Netanyahu to call it quits. In his own Likud party, the number is only slightly lower at 23% — even though he has no obvious successor.
That doesn’t mean Netanyahu will lose this fall. Self-described Likudniks will likely vote for him, no matter how they responded to the survey. And those who identify with the right, whether they vote for him or not, will likely cast ballots for a party in his camp. The same survey found that a plurality of Israeli Jews, 36%, expect his bloc to again prevail in the elections — as opposed to just 26% who believe the same about the opposition.
What the survey does show is fatigue — that a significant share of Israelis, even if they align politically with Netanyahu, are eager for a fresh face after so much time and such a tumultuous era.
That may also be true for Trump. The US president, never one for subtlety, has recently taken to describing Netanyahu as a puppet, saying this week, “If I tell him to do something, he does it.”
But he’s also reportedly feuded with the prime minister, calling him “fucking crazy” in a phone call, then threatening in recent days that Israel could be left to fight alone in Iran if it escalated the conflict.
Trump, since returning to office, has also frequently praised Netanyahu, met and spoken with him often, launched a war alongside him, and aggressively pushed for him to receive a pardon in his corruption trial.
The composite picture is one of a US president who sees Netanyahu as an ally but has also been frustrated with him of late. So when that president muses about Netanyahu leaving office, he may be echoing the Israeli right — appreciative of the prime minister, but also partially looking for a fresh start after an exhausting war.
Near the end of the brief comments to ABC, Trump drew a comparison between Netanyahu and himself, saying that the Israeli leader was a “wartime prime minister” while he is also a “wartime president.”
But there’s one big difference: Netanyahu may well leave office, by choice or not, by year’s end. Trump’s term lasts two and a half more years, and he might not mind sitting opposite a new Israeli leader the next time there’s a summit in the White House.
