Axios wrote: Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, while fighting for his political survival in Tuesday's election, has in recent days asked Donald Trump, the president of the United States, to show more public support for his election campaign. A US source aware of the matter and an Israeli source who has been briefed on this matter have announced this.
According to 'Entekhab'; the following has come in the continuation of this article: The US source said the White House considers Netanyahu's aggressive lobbying a 'sign of desperation' and indicative that the Israeli prime minister thinks he has fallen behind his rivals.
The White House and the office of the prime minister of Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this matter.
Behind the scenes of the matter:
The US source said Netanyahu has spoken with Trump twice in the past three days and asked him to strengthen his support, which he had announced last week on the social network 'Truth Social'.
According to this source, Netanyahu has even suggested phrases to Trump for publishing more supportive statements.
An Israeli source who has been briefed on Netanyahu's efforts said the prime minister of Israel has proposed that Trump establish a phone call with Israeli journalists to announce more support for him.
Main developments:
Trump, after weeks of hesitation, announced his support for Netanyahu last Sunday. He went so far as to implicitly say that Netanyahu's defeat would have consequences for US-Israel relations.
Trump has so far not cooperated with any Israeli prime minister except Netanyahu and does not personally know any of the other candidates. The two have formed a close, but often turbulent, relationship with each other.
Current situation:
The three major television networks of Israel published their last polls before the election on Friday. All three polls showed that Netanyahu's coalition is far from obtaining a parliamentary majority.
Based on the prediction of all three polls, Netanyahu's bloc in Israel's 120-seat parliament (the Knesset) will obtain only 50 seats; that is, 17 seats less than the number of seats that his current coalition holds.
It was predicted that the Likud party led by Netanyahu, which now has 32 seats, will obtain only 20 seats.
Based on these polls, the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, the former chief of staff of the Israeli army, will obtain between 52 and 56 seats. Also, the two Arab parties of Israel will obtain a total of 14 to 16 seats.
Israel's Channel 11 also predicted four seats for a party composed of reserve forces that is not affiliated with either of the two blocs.
Israel's Channel 14, which is a supporter of Netanyahu, was the main exception among these polls. This network, in a poll it published earlier in the week, had predicted 60 seats for Netanyahu's bloc and 30 seats for the Likud party.
The point that lies hidden behind the matter:
A US official described Trump's election support for Netanyahu as, in any case, a profitable deal for the president of the United States.
If Netanyahu wins — or even remains in power as interim prime minister after the election — Trump can claim that he saved him politically and use this leverage to compel Netanyahu to give concessions.
If Netanyahu loses and his opponents form a government, the new leaders of Israel will also still have many incentives to establish good relations with Trump. In such circumstances, Trump's support for their rival will quickly become a marginal and unimportant topic.
However: some of Trump's advisers believe that the coming to power of a government in Israel led by a person other than Netanyahu can provide opportunities for advancing the Middle East agenda of the president of the United States.
Source: Entekhab
