JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed his ally Benjamin Netanyahu before Israel`s close-fought parliamentary election on Oct 27 when the veteran prime minister will try to win a new mandate.

Netanyahu touted his close relationship with the US president in a video released by his Likud party, saying that together they had `crushed Iran` and adding that reelection would allow him to work with Trump to `eliminate the Iranian threat over the next two years, or even sooner`.

The endorsement comes less than two weeks before Israel`s first vote since the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas-led raid, which opposition politicians have accused Netanyahu of bearing personal responsibility for after allegedly ignoring warnings.

Trump and Netanyahu, who polls show is in a tight election race, have worked closely together on Israel`s multi-front wars after the Hamas-led raid, including bombarding Iran, and the endorsement could be a boon to his re-election campaign.

`Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, using a common nickname for the Israeli leader.

`This is the kind of Partner that the United States of America is demanding of Israel, a Country for which it has done so much. Please let this Letter serve to represent my Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel.` The election is seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, who quickly thanked the US leaderwho he has regularly referred to as the `greatest friend` of Israel, for his support on Sunday.

`Thank you, President Trump, for your tremendous support and for our work together. Together we will complete the mission!` he wrote on X.

`I ask you to listen carefully to what President Trump said this evening,` Netanyahu told voters. `He said that together we have accomplished extraordinary things... But there is still a mission to complete.

Trump joined Netanyahu in a US-Israeli attack on Iran in late February but agreed to a ceasefire in April in the face of widespread US public opposition to the war, which had sent oil prices spiralling.

Yet with Israel and Netanyahu looking increasingly isolated on the world stage, Trump`s support is vital.

Netanyahu, who turns 77 on Oct 21, is Israel`s longest-serving prime minister, having served as prime minister on and off for more than 19 years. His main election rival is opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of the centre-right Yashar party and a former military chiefwho regularly accuses Netanyahu of bearing personal responsibility for the Oct 7 raid. Some seven million Israelis will be eligible to vote in the legislative election.

Current polls show that neither Netanyahu`s bloc nor that led by Eisenkot is in a position to win the 61 seats needed to control the 120-seat parliament and form a governing coalition. Eisenkot quickly responded to Trump`s endorsement, saying that only Israelis could choose who they want to run the country.

Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv, Eisenkot said he `admires` Trump `but Israel is a democratic country, only Israelis can choose their leaders`.

But Trump warned against Israel electing `anyone other than Bibi`, writing that if voters chose one of his rivals `America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so`. On Sunday, Israel`s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that Trump was `essentially saying what we all know` in Israel.-AFP