Trump denies Netanyahu pressured him into a second endorsement

US President Donald Trump has denied that his latest public endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came about because Netanyahu pressed him for it. The Times of Israel reported that Trump rejected the idea that this second endorsement followed pressure from the prime minister, quoting him as saying he had "never spoke to him about it."

The Jerusalem Post reported the same denial, rendering Trump's words as "I never spoke about it." In a separate remark carried by the Hebrew-language channel News.co.il, Trump said that Netanyahu had done a very good job as prime minister in especially challenging conditions.

What Trump denied

The core of the story is narrow. According to the reports, a suggestion had circulated that Trump issued a renewed statement of support for Netanyahu after approaches from the prime minister himself. Trump's answer, as relayed by all three outlets that covered the denial, was that the two men had not discussed it.

Israeli political commentator Amit Segal wrote on his Telegram channel that Trump denied publishing the message of support the previous night because of requests from Netanyahu. Segal's Hebrew rendering of Trump's reply translates as "we did not talk about it."

The wording differs slightly across the reports. The Times of Israel has Trump saying he never spoke to Netanyahu about it; The Jerusalem Post has a shorter version without a named person; Segal's version uses the first person plural. None of the reports supplies the full exchange, so it is not possible from this material to say which rendering is closest to Trump's exact words. The substance of the denial is the same in each.

The praise for Netanyahu

Alongside the denial, Trump offered a positive assessment of Netanyahu's tenure. The remark reported by News.co.il describes Netanyahu's performance as very good and refers to the conditions he faced as especially challenging. The report does not specify which conditions Trump had in mind.

Why an endorsement matters in Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu leads Likud, the right-wing party that has been the dominant force in Israeli politics for much of recent decades. The Jerusalem Post illustrated its report with a photograph of a Likud campaign banner showing Netanyahu together with Trump, an indication that the party has used the relationship between the two leaders in its public messaging.

For readers outside Israel, the significance of a US president's words is partly about the domestic contest. Netanyahu has long presented his ties with Washington, and with Trump personally, as a political asset. A statement of support from the White House can therefore be read in Israel as more than diplomatic courtesy, which is why the question of whether such a statement was requested by Netanyahu drew attention from Israeli media.

Who reported it

The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post are English-language Israeli news outlets. Amit Segal is a prominent Israeli political journalist who publishes short updates on Telegram, a messaging platform widely used by Israeli news channels for breaking items. News.co.il is a Hebrew-language news channel that also distributes updates through Telegram. All four published their items within a few hours of one another.

What the reports do not say

The material available is brief, and several basic points are missing:

• None of the reports quotes the text of the endorsement itself, or says where Trump published it.
• The reports do not say where or to whom Trump made the denial, whether to journalists, in a written post or in an interview.
• They do not identify who first suggested that Netanyahu had asked for the endorsement.
• The Times of Israel describes this as a second endorsement, but the reports do not describe the first one or when it was given.
• No response from Netanyahu or his office appears in the material.
• It is not clear whether the praise reported by News.co.il was said in the same remarks as the denial or on a separate occasion.

Until fuller accounts emerge, the confirmed elements are Trump's denial that he discussed the endorsement with Netanyahu and his statement that Netanyahu has performed very well as prime minister.