WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump won't say whether he thinks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be reelected when voters head to the polls later this month.
The president, who sat down with Time magazine for a 75-minute interview published Thursday, sidestepped multiple questions about Netanyahu's reelection bid. Israelis are set to vote Oct. 27, in the first national elections since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The absence of an endorsement is a setback for the Likud party politician, who has billed his tight ties to Trump as a selling point for keeping him in power.
“I can only say that I’m not involved in politics anymore,” responded Trump, when asked if Israelis should give Netanyahu another term.
The U.S. president is in fact ramping up his campaigning for Republicans in the November midterms, and has made a public flex of his political influence abroad on a scale that few if any U.S. presidents have exerted.
He has endorsed candidates like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his unsuccessful bid for a fifth term, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, as well as several Latin American leaders.
Trump's tepid comments sharply contrast with his more fulsome displays of support for Netanyahu in the past. In a 2019 campaign, Netanyahu purchased massive billboards picturing him with Trump and the message “Netanyahu. In Another League." Trump, in turn, highlighted the campaign ad in his own social media feeds.
In the Time interview, Trump, however, didn't miss an opportunity to highlight his own record on Israel as the reporters made several attempts to get him to talk about Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and his reelection battle.
Trump did note that Netanyahu has shown resilience over the course of his political career.
The Israeli leader is in the midst of a yearslong corruption trial, faced massive protests in 2023 after introducing a plan to restructure Israel’s judiciary and his image has been tarnished by his government's intelligence and security lapses ahead of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel.
Last November, Trump sent a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog asking him to pardon Netanyahu on the corruption charges and praised the prime minister as “a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister.”
“Well, people have written off Bibi many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times," Trump said. "I wouldn’t underestimate Bibi.”
On Netanyahu’s most serious opponent, centrist Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said, “I don’t hear bad things about him.”
In June, before Eisenkot announced he was running, Trump said he would “most likely” endorse Netanyahu but that he would have to see who he was running against him first.
Trump remains a popular figure in Israel.
During his first term, he lent unprecedented support to Israel’s claims to territory seized in war, including by moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
The robust support continued in his second term, as he backed Israel’s actions in Gaza and joined it in bombing Iran. Netanyahu has been a frequent guest at the White House and frequently speaks to Trump on the phone.
The alliance has been particularly beneficial to Netanyahu, who has sought to tie himself to Trump to improve his image at home.
But there has been strain between the two leaders over the course of the seven-month Iran war.
Trump was critical of Israel’s decision to attack a critical Iranian gas field in the first weeks of the conflict. Trump in June called Netanyahu “crazy” and said that he was “a little bit perturbed” as Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran.
In August, Netanyahu rejected Trump’s latest plan to advance the stalled ceasefire in Gaza, pushing back on the U.S. administration's call for Israel to withdraw from territory it controls in Gaza until Hamas has been disarmed.
With the move, Netanyahu rolled the dice on potentially angering Trump, who he has repeatedly said is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.
Going along with Trump's plan could arguably be more perilous for Netanyahu’s reelection chances as the country remains deeply traumatized by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that happened on his watch. Netanyahu's nationalistic base opposes concessions to the Palestinians.
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Madhani reported from Jerusalem.
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, listens during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the State Dining Room of the White House, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Tuesday Sept. 29, 2026, after meeting with top executives of AI firms. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. President Donald Trump says it's “possible” he may ramp up bombing of Iran after the Nov. 3 midterm elections and that he rejected Iran's latest peace offer because it's not good enough.
Fighting between Houthi rebels and government forces overnight stirred fears that the Iran-backed rebels may be advancing toward Taiz City in southwestern Yemen.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Thursday. Full coverage is available here.
Trump said in a Time magazine interview published Thursday that he won't now accept proposals from Iran that “he wouldn't have approved a year ago.”
He left open the possibility of resuming bombing Iran after the Nov. 3 election. He refused to offer details, telling journalists, "I can’t tell you that because look, you know, you’re asking, where are you going to bomb?”
The U.S. president told Time magazine that he only heard about those reports on the same day that the Sept. 28 interview was conducted with Time reporters, adding “I can't imagine this.”
Trump said had Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu been forewarned, “he would have done something about it" or "would have had people at least alert.”
An Israeli newspaper reported that Netanyahu was directly warned by the president of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive just days before the militant group attacked on Oct. 7, 2023.
Netanyahu strongly rejected the report.
In the same Time magazine interview, Trump repeatedly avoided answering directly whether Netanyahu should be reelected in elections later this month.
Trump said that he's “not involved in politics anymore” and touted his own record on Israel.
But he said Netanyahu shouldn't be underestimated even if "people have written off Bibi many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times.”
Of Netanyahu’s opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said: “I don’t hear bad things about him.”
Iran-backed Houthi rebels clashed with government forces overnight into Thursday in residential neighborhoods in eastern Taiz, located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Mokha, which the Houthis seized last month.
A main road linking Taiz and Aden was cut off due to the latest clashes.
Al-Thawra Hospital, located a few kilometers from the clashes, received six bodies and 35 wounded people Thursday, according to hospital manager Abdelrahman al-Sabry.
The official told The Associated Press by phone Thursday the number of dead and wounded was similar to those in early September, when fighting was intense before clashes de-escalated.
Renewed violence in Yemen has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands. The Houthis captured the strategic city of Mokha and a number of Red Sea islands last month, extending their reach to the key maritime waterway of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
It was the Houthis’ biggest land grab in years, and ended a 2022 ceasefire that largely stopped major fighting in Yemen’s 12-year civil war.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said Thursday the rebels targeted a power distribution station in the area of Medina two days earlier. The strike shut down a transformer, but didn't affect the power grid. The Houthis have yet to respond to the claim.
By Marzouk al-Jaberi and Fatma Khaled
Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Britain’s ambassador in Tehran on Thursday to “strongly protest” allegations by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham linking Iran to a sabotage plot at RAF Fairford, Iranian state television reported.
The ministry dismissed allegations that Iran was connected to the alleged plot as “baseless” and called on the British government to provide an official explanation and change its approach toward Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had also posted on X that the U.K. was "barking up the wrong tree.”
Netanyahu told Fox News Thursday that the suspect in the FlyDubai incident was an Omani national who got through a loophole in Israeli constraints barring pilots from countries like Oman that don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel.
He said both countries are “interested in making sure this doesn’t happen again" and warned that “it might be attempted again because we have indications that Iran and its proxies are trying to conduct attacks against Israel and Israelis right now in this election season.”
Yaniv Hayoun, a passenger aboard the FlyDubai flight, said after arriving in Tel Aviv Wednesday night that the two British pilots who safely brought the aircraft in to land were sitting "one row in front of me, row six, and I was in row seven.”
The Soundstorm music festival in Saudi Arabia has been canceled for this year, and organizers said it will return in 2027.
No reason was given for the cancellation. The festival, which in the past has featured international stars including Bruno Mars, Cardi B and DJ Khaled, is the latest major entertainment event in the kingdom to be cancelled this year.
Organizers MDLBEAST had earlier announced the cancellation of the 1001 music festival in Riyadh, which was scheduled for the end of the month. A week ago, organizers postponed the sixth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival from December to the fourth quarter of 2027.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Passengers who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, during a flight on FlyDubai plane, arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Tarek al-Salami, 7, who was displaced from the city of Mokha and is showing symptoms of malnutrition, sits on a bed while receiving treatment at a therapeutic feeding center in Buraiqa, on the western outskirts of Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Israeli passengers who had been aboard a FlyDubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia are welcomed at the arrivals gate at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli passenger Haim Lazarovich, who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, during a flight on FlyDubai plane, arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli passenger Yaniv Hayoun, with blood stains on his shirt, who was aboard a Flydubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, is welcomed at the arrivals gate at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)
