Trump says Netanyahu may quit politics, but Likud asserts he will run in elections

‘Does he want to continue?’ muses US president; survey shows majority of Israelis, including in the center-right, don’t want premier to run for reelection

US President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that it was an “open question” whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 76, wants to continue his political career, while a poll showed that over 60 percent of Israelis don’t want the longtime premier to run in the upcoming Knesset election.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, who has held power nearly uninterrupted since 2009, has given no indication at all that he will opt out of this fall’s vote, and Likud confirmed Wednesday that he would be running for reelection. He is on a campaign footing even as the date of the election, which must take place by October 27, has yet to be officially set.

His leadership is set to be a major issue in the election, with many considering him the main culprit responsible for the strategic failures that preceded Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023, as well as accusing him of divisive political conduct, corruption, and undermining Israel’s democratic institutions.

But many others have granted him ironclad support, hailing his wartime conduct since October 7 and his relationships with Trump and others on the world stage. Netanyahu faced no challengers for the Likud party leadership in November primaries, and is seen as having near-total control over the ruling party’s institutions and lawmakers.

Almost all opinion surveys have consistently shown the bloc of right-wing and religious parties that support him failing to win a Knesset majority, and some surveys have predicted a razor-thin majority for the diverse bloc of Zionist parties opposed to him. However, polls in Israel, while influential, are notoriously unreliable, and much could yet change, including new parties joining or leaving the race and merging with each other.

During an interview Tuesday about the Iran war with ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, Trump wondered “if Bibi even wants to continue.”

“I don’t know, he’s had an amazing career,” Trump said, according to a post on X by Karl. “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.”

Trump, who has also seen a sharp dip in approval ratings, added that he, too, is a “wartime president.”

Likud responded to Trump in an X post Wednesday, saying Netanyahu “will run in the upcoming election, and, God willing, will win.”

Meanwhile, a poll released on Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 61% of Israelis overall, and 57% of Jewish Israelis, don’t think Netanyahu should run, while 35% of Israelis and 39.5% of Jewish Israelis think he should.

On the right, a majority of 69% think Netanyahu should run in the election versus 27% who think he shouldn’t, but the poll found significant majorities against his run for reelection among the center-right (64%), center (83%), center-left (85%), left (97%), and among Arabs (83%).

However, when asked which bloc has the higher chance of forming the next government, a plurality of 36% of Jewish Israelis said the pro-Netanyahu bloc does, with just 26% saying the anti-Netanyahu bloc, 18% saying both to the same extent, and 20% saying they don’t know.

The poll also found that 61% of Israelis support the establishment of a two-term limit for future prime ministers. Majorities of Jewish Israelis across the political left, center and right support imposing term limits after Netanyahu leaves office.

It also showed that most Israelis no longer think the Jewish state’s security is a main concern for Trump.

The Israel Democracy Index Survey was conducted from May 31 to June 5 — before Iran renewed its missile fire on Israel for the first time in two months on Sunday and Trump told Netanyahu not to retaliate. Israel ultimately did anyway before Trump forced a truce less than 24 hours later.

The survey was conducted online and over the phone and included the responses of 603 Jewish Israelis and 150 Arab Israelis, representative of Israel’s adult population, and with a margin of error of 3.57%.