Despite praise and White House visits, Trump avoids endorsing Netanyahu
2 hours ago
United States President Donald Trump has avoided directly endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview ahead of Israel’s upcoming elections , despite repeatedly heaping praise – and White House visits – on the Israeli prime minister.
Trump thrice avoided making an endorsement in an interview with Time magazine published on Thursday, instead pivoting to his own popularity in Israel and actions in support of Israel’s government.
The US president was initially asked if the “Israeli people should give Netanyahu another term?”
“Well, I can only say that I’m not involved in politics any more, except that we’re popular,” Trump said, claiming “99 percent” popularity in Israel.
When pressed a second time on whether Netanyahu should have another term, Trump pointed to Washington’s continued security support for Israel and his decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during his first term.
The interviewer responded: “It seems like you’re doing a lot of work for him. Should he have another term?”
Trump replied: “No, my primary thing – I do want to help them defend Israel. My thing that I mention all the time is Iran cannot have a nuclear power because they are crazy and you can’t let crazy people have nuclear weapons.”
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