US President Donald Trump is leaving his support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming parliamentary election open for now, Israeli broadcaster Kan reported on Thursday.
According to the report, Trump said in an interview that he would probably support Netanyahu in the election, but would first have to wait and see who was standing as a candidate. Trump added that he had a good relationship with Netanyahu, but that the latter needed to act more sensibly.
A date for the Knesset election has not yet been set. The law stipulates that it must be held by October 27 this year. According to current polls, Netanyahu's right-wing religious coalition is set to lose its parliamentary majority.
In the 2019 election, the Israeli prime minister was still featured on huge banners alongside Trump under the slogan “Netanyahu – in a league of his own.”
Recently, Trump has levelled an unusual amount of public criticism at Netanyahu. Trump described the Israeli leader as a “very difficult guy” and accused him of lacking judgment. He also criticized the Israeli army’s actions in Lebanon.
According to the Wall Street Journal, these differences are increasingly straining the relationship between the two politicians.
It was reported that Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu had at times boiled over in recent weeks, as the US president was trying to end the war with Iran, while the Israeli prime minister was keen to continue the fighting.
The paper quoted a senior government official as saying that Netanyahu usually pushes for increased military operations in telephone calls with Trump, and that the US president has now had enough of this.
