Netanyahu pressed Trump for a strike on Iran before Israel's 27 October vote

Washington refused a pre-election strike

Netanyahu pressed the Trump administration to launch new attacks on Iran before Tuesday's election, according to CNN, which cites US officials and an Israeli security source. Washington refused to restart the war before the vote. Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, reportedly warned US Joint Chiefs chairman Dan Caine that a war would disrupt the elections. Trump is reported to have declined to repeat the strikes, and US officials asked Israel to hold off until Washington is ready to resume the war.

Why Israel is holding off

Israel was reportedly preparing last week to resume its attacks and pressed Washington to take part. For now those plans are on hold, because Israel's interceptor missile stocks are depleted and it needs US help to shoot down the missiles Iran would fire in retaliation. The CNN source described the dispute as Netanyahu wanting a joint attack before the vote while Trump withheld the green light. All the reporting says the attacks are postponed for now, but Israel is preparing to resume the war with Iran alongside the United States, most likely after the US midterm elections.

Channel 12 report and the denials

Israel's Channel 12 reported on Sunday evening, 25 October, that Zamir asked for an in-depth discussion with Netanyahu about a possible operation that could lead to a clash with Iran. According to the network, Zamir also wanted legal guarantees and documents signed by political leaders before any action. Channel 12 said it published the report with military censorship clearance and that the friction was visible during a discussion held on Sunday at the Palmachim air base. Unnamed political sources rejected the report as an absolute lie, while Defense Minister Israel Katz denied on Monday, 26 October, that tension existed between the government and the military over Iran.

Trump's endorsement and Netanyahu's nuclear image

On Sunday, 25 October, Trump posted on Truth Social urging Israelis to remember that Netanyahu had been an outstanding prime minister and warrior when they voted. The post came a week after Trump's first public backing of Netanyahu, and hours after Axios reported that Netanyahu had pressed Trump to voice support publicly again. Trump cited a 301% inflation rate in Iran and a naval blockade that has cut its oil exports, claims the articles present as his own. The same day Netanyahu shared an AI-generated image of a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv, reposting a post by right-wing commentator Yuval Blumberg about an existential threat from Iran. Two days before the vote, Netanyahu warned that backing any other candidate could expose Israelis to a second Holocaust, and he dismissed the government rows, including Qatargate, as a smokescreen.

Polls and the 61-seat threshold

Neither major bloc reaches the 61 seats needed to form a government alone. The last four polls average 49.5 seats for Netanyahu's coalition and 54 for the opposing bloc, while the Arab parties, which sit outside both blocs, win roughly 14.5 seats.

Netanyahu coalition49.5

Opposition bloc54

Arab parties (outside both blocs)14.5

Netanyahu coalition

49.5 seats

Opposition bloc

54 seats

Arab parties (outside both blocs)

14.5 seats

Data from the article text

The governing coalition, combining Likud with ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, is projected to win between 42.9% and 47.2% of the vote. Political scientist Ofer Kenig says polls show a steady majority for the bloc opposed to Netanyahu, but that majority includes the Arab parties.

Eisenkot and Netanyahu's record

Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief whose son was killed in Gaza, leads the centrist Yashar list. At a Sunday rally in Tel Aviv he warned that four more years of the current government would be a dangerous delusion. Eisenkot rejects Palestinian statehood and calls for destroying or dismantling the military wing of Hamas. Netanyahu has spent more than 18 years in power, making him Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and was in office on 7 October 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251. He has faced criminal charges for corruption, bribery and fraud in three cases since 2019, and an independent UN commission has accused him of genocide in Gaza.