Key Points
- Israelis vote on Tuesday, Oct. 27, for all 120 seats in the Knesset; 61 seats are needed for a majority.
- U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his endorsement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening, a week after his first one.
- Final polls published Friday put Netanyahu’s bloc between 50 seats (Kan) and 59 seats (i24NEWS/Direct Polls), short of a majority in both.
- President Isaac Herzog told MS NOW that no one, including the U.S. president, can “intervene in my discretion” over who forms the next government.
- Exit polls are due when voting ends at 10 p.m. Israel time (4 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, according to i24NEWS.
Israelis vote on Tuesday in a close Israel election that will decide whether Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power. On the eve of the vote, U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Israelis for a second time to back the prime minister, while final polls suggest neither main camp is on course for a majority.
What happened
On Sunday evening, Oct. 25, Trump published a new message on Truth Social addressed “To the people of Israel,” attaching the endorsement he had issued a week earlier. “When you go to the Polls please remember that Bibi has been an outstanding Warrior Prime Minister!” he wrote, according to the post as archived. He ended the message: “Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started!”
The post tied his support largely to the confrontation with Iran; those characterizations are Trump’s own.
Trump first endorsed Netanyahu on Oct. 18, calling it a “Complete and Total Endorsement.” In that post he also wrote that “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” according to the archived post and DW. Netanyahu answered on X at the time: “Together we will complete the mission!”
His main challenger, former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, responded that only the Israeli public decides and that “Israel is a democratic state,” DW reported.
Latest development
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who will decide which lawmaker gets the first chance to form a government after the vote, said the U.S. endorsement will not shape that choice. “I don’t think the president of the United States or anybody else can intervene in my discretion; the discretion has to be based on certain facts, and we will see what the facts are,” he told MS NOW in an interview. “There will be a lot of pressure, though, regardless.”
Herzog said he has “huge respect” for Trump but that “It’s Israel’s democracy and Israel’s constitution, and that’s what counts for me.” He added that he would try to avoid a repeat election, including by pushing for a unity government, though “I don’t know if it’s feasible.”
Axios, citing unnamed U.S. and Israeli sources, reported that Netanyahu had pressed Trump for more public support before the second post. A Likud spokesperson denied it, and LiveNewsWorld has not independently confirmed the report.
Why it matters
This is Israel’s first national election since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, according to the BBC.
No party has ever won an outright Knesset majority, so coalition talks will settle the result. Eisenkot, who leads the centrist Yashar party, has emerged as Netanyahu’s strongest rival, NBC News reported, and the BBC described the race as too close to call. He is part of a four-party opposition pact that includes the Together alliance of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, according to Al Jazeera.
The final polls, published Friday, sent mixed signals. A survey by Direct Polls for i24NEWS gave Netanyahu’s bloc 59 seats, Eisenkot’s bloc 47 and Arab parties 14, with Likud first on 26 seats. Public broadcaster Kan put Netanyahu’s bloc at 50 and Eisenkot’s at 52, with Yashar ahead of Likud by 22 seats to 20. Both surveys left each camp short of 61.
That gives the Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra’am, a possible kingmaker role. Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas has signaled openness to backing an opposition government, but most opposition leaders, including Eisenkot, have ruled out such an alliance, Al Jazeera reported.
For Washington, the vote also tests Trump’s practice of endorsing foreign candidates, which NBC News noted has included races in Hungary, Argentina and Honduras. Our U.S. Politics Live center tracks the White House side of the story.
What happens next
Exit polls are expected at 10 p.m. Israel time, or 4 p.m. ET, on Tuesday, according to i24NEWS, with official results to follow as votes are counted.
Herzog will then consult party leaders before tasking a lawmaker with forming a government, a process that could take weeks. If no one can build a majority, Israel could head to another election, as it did five times between 2019 and 2022, with Netanyahu remaining caretaker prime minister in the meantime, Al Jazeera noted.
Separately, Trump told Fox News on Sunday that it is “getting to be decision time” on Iran, CNBC reported.
Related live coverage
Follow results and reaction on our World Breaking News Live page, and find live network coverage through the Watch Live hub.
Sources
- Trump’s Truth Social posts of Oct. 18 and Oct. 25, 2026, via the Truth Social archive at trumpstruth.org, with reporting by NBC News, DW and The Jerusalem Post
- MS NOW: Herzog reaffirms independence of Israeli elections amid Trump push for Netanyahu (Oct. 25, 2026); also The Times of Israel and The Media Line
- i24NEWS: Final election polls point to deadlock as neither bloc secures a majority (Oct. 23, 2026); Kan figures as reported by i24NEWS
- BBC News and Al Jazeera election explainers (Oct. 25, 2026)
- CNBC: Iran war coverage (Oct. 26, 2026); Axios report on Netanyahu and Trump (Oct. 25, 2026)
