Middle East & North Africa
Netanyahu to Trump: “We have a job to finish” – “You’re a warrior, Bibi,” the US president replies in a video released eight days before the election
Benjamin Netanyahu has published a video of his phone call with Donald Trump, hours after the US president publicly backed him ahead of Israel’s October 27 election; the “job” both men refer to is the war against Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published on Monday, October 19 a video of his phone call with US President Donald Trump, hours after the American president publicly expressed his support for him ahead of the election of October 27. “Together we will remove the Iranian threat forever! Go out and vote Likud!”, Netanyahu wrote in the Hebrew caption of the post.
In the video, which lasts about a minute and a half and was filmed in a hangar with fighter aircraft, Netanyahu tells Trump: “Donald, we have a job to finish. You said it, and we will finish it together.” The US president answers that “we will finish it, and nobody else is going to do it.” “Our alliance proved that we can do amazing things together,” the Israeli prime minister adds, repeating that “we still have one more job to finish.”
“You’re a warrior, and we will prove it”
“You’re a warrior, and we’re going to prove it,” Trump tells him. Referring to his support in the election, the American president says: “I think you’re fantastic, Bibi. That’s why I always intended to do it.” “I think you’re going to have a tremendous win, actually,” he adds, closing with the line “you’re the man I want by my side, Bibi.”
The “job” the two leaders refer to is linked to the war against Iran, as Netanyahu’s caption makes clear. On Monday morning the Israeli prime minister presented a new 10-point security doctrine, centred on the shift “from defence to offence” and on preventing Iran’s nuclear programme.
Eight days before the vote
The call was made public eight days before the election and on the same day that former defence minister Benny Gantz announced he is withdrawing from the race. Trump had declared “complete and total” support for Netanyahu earlier in the day, a rare direct intervention by a US president in favour of a candidate in an Israeli election.
By releasing the video, Netanyahu puts that support at the centre of his campaign. Israel’s parliamentary election is set for October 27, and the vote will decide the composition of the next Knesset.
