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Likud confirms Netanyahu re-election bid after Trump casts doubt on future

Likud confirms Netanyahu re-election bid after Trump casts doubt on future

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara (L), attend a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZikaron, at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on April 21, 2026. Photograph: (AFP)

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Israel's Likud party confirmed Benjamin Netanyahu will seek re-election despite polls showing most Israelis oppose another term. Donald Trump has also cast doubt on Netanyahu's political future.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to seek re-election, Likud confirmed on Wednesday. It came in response to a poll which showed 60 per cent of Israelis do not want Israel's longest serving Prime Minister to seek another term. US President Donald Trump, who is supposedly having a “lovers' spat” with Netanyahu and Israel, has also cast doubt on his re-election. Netanyahu has held power almost uninterrupted since 2009, and has not indicated that he won't seek re-election.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu will run in the next elections and, God Willing, he will win," the Likud party announced on Telegram.

“I don’t know, he’s had an amazing career,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News, “Does he want to continue? Because, you know, he’s a wartime prime minister. We will very shortly win the war one way or the other, and you know he’s a wartime prime minister.”

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Israel is going on poll within this October, and almost all the polls in Israel show Netanyahu's Likud and the bloc of right-wing and religious parties that support him failing to win a majority. However, the polls in Israel are not reliable. While some surveys have projected a slim majority for the diverse bloc of Zionist parties opposed to him.

Netanyahu's term has been embroiled by controversy, his corruption scandal, takeover of the judiciary and even his handling of the situation in Gaza, while a clear majority of the Israeli public holds Benjamin Netanyahu primarily responsible for the security failures of October 7. Further, his insistence on not allowing an enquiry commission until the conflict is over complicates the matter. Declassified documents and testimonies show that the political echelon received generic warnings about Hamas's long-term invasion plans (such as the "Jericho Walls" blueprint) as early as 2018.

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Trump's remarks followed a moment of tense exchanges between the two leaders where he berated Netanyahu, calling him that everybody “hates Israel” and Netanyahu would be “in prison” if it wasn't for Trump. Israel engages in war on all fronts with Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.


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Kushal Deb

Kushal Deb is a mid-career journalist with seven years of experience and a strong academic background. Passionate about research, storytelling, writes about economics, policy, cult...Read More