Trump takes credit for ‘come-from-behind stalemate’ favoring Netanyahu in Israeli election

Just after midnight Wednesday, President Donald Trump boasted on Truth Social that his endorsement had saved Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from defeat, though initial results left Netanyahu short of a majority.

"When President Trump endorsed Bibi Netanyahu, the whole tide turned, and now, rather than a decisive defeat for a Great Prime Minister, it looks like a big come-from-behind stalemate, or even a WIN for Netanyahu,” reads Trump’s post, which is formatted as a quote attributed to someone named Irving C. Schwartz.

Trump did not add his own comment. No public biographical information for Schwartz could be immediately verified.

Israel voted Tuesday, and the results are still being tabulated. The count so far supports the word "stalemate." It does not support "WIN," at least not yet.

With 70% of the vote counted, The Guardian reported Wednesday morning that Netanyahu's bloc had 54 seats, while the Gadi Eisenkot-led opposition held 47; Palestinian and Arab-majority parties netted 19 seats. A majority in the 120-seat Knesset would require 61. Official results are expected by Nov. 4.

Trump entered the Israeli race on Oct. 18 with a "Complete and Total Endorsement" letter warning that if Israel chose "anyone other than Bibi," America would have to "do this work ourselves" and he was"not inclined to do so."

On Oct. 25, Trump reposted his endorsement: “To the people of Israel, to those who haven't seen it, I am attaching the Endorsement I gave one week ago to your Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump wrote. "Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister."

Asked the next day whether Netanyahu had requested the president to weigh in on the Israeli election, Trump said the two men hadn’t discussed it: "No, I never spoke about it, no." Axios reported over the weekend that Netanyahu had aggressively lobbied Trump to issue more prominent statements in support of the prime minister’s campaign in the run-up to the election.

Netanyahu thanked Trump in his election-night speech.

Public polling did not show an immediate lift from Trump’s endorsement. A Channel 12 poll taken Oct. 19, the day after the endorsement, found "no immediate bump" for Netanyahu.

Trump has previously claimed decisive influence in foreign elections. After Argentina's October 2025 midterm elections, he said Javier Milei "had a lot of help from us." In December 2025, he went further: "He was losing in the election, and I endorsed him and he won in a landslide."

Trump made a similar claim about Honduran President Nasry Asfura, who won by less than a percentage point.