Trump-endorsed Netanyahu calls for unity government to end Iran nuclear threat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom President Trump endorsed last month as his partner against Iran, called Saturday for a national unity government that he said would "permanently remove" the Iranian nuclear threat. Later that evening, Israel's president said he will task Netanyahu's rival Gadi Eisenkot with forming the next government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who won President Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement" ahead of last month's election, called Saturday for a broad national unity government, saying it would "permanently remove the Iranian nuclear threat." Shortly afterward, Israel's president said he would give Netanyahu's rival the first chance to form a government.

"Citizens of Israel, this is a time for unity," Netanyahu said in a video statement released Saturday evening. He called for a government that "includes all the parties of the national camp" and all Zionist parties, arguing that it would also "preserve Israel as a Jewish state." "There is only one choice, not national suicide, but national unity," he said, according to Ynet.

An Iran pitch that echoes Trump

The emphasis on Iran mirrors the case Trump made for Netanyahu nine days before Israelis voted on Oct. 27. In an Oct. 18 social media post, Trump called him "a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran," and warned that "if Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves," the Associated Press reported.

Netanyahu's appeal comes as Washington weighs its next move on Tehran. Trump said Friday that Iran will never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon and that Tehran "wants to make a deal very badly," while the State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $20 million for information on Iran's nuclear program.

President Trump meets Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Oval Office on July 28, 2026

Trump hosted Netanyahu in the Oval Office on July 28. The relationship has since become an issue in Israel's coalition fight: After Trump told "Fox & Friends" on Nov. 3 that he and Netanyahu had agreed months ago to end annual U.S. payments to Israel by the end of this year, Eisenkot said Netanyahu's conduct "poses a real danger" and that "he can no longer be trusted and must be replaced."

"Fire and flames"

Netanyahu also issued a stark warning about the alternative. A government "dependent on Islamists" would "dismantle the State of Israel from within, as is happening in European countries—and much worse," he said, according to JNS. In a Nov. 2 post, he wrote that Israelis do not want a government that depends on Ra'am and the Joint List, the Arab parties that won a record 19 seats and later recommended Eisenkot.

In this part of the statement, as aired by Israel's Channel 14, Netanyahu says: "The fire and flames we see in the streets of Paris and Brussels will pale in comparison to the fire and flames we will see in the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and other Israeli cities. This is not imaginary. These are not scare tactics. This is the reality we will face, and therefore we must stop it, because our lives depend on it. With such a government, Israel simply will not survive."

Netanyahu did not say which incidents he had in mind. France was rocked in mid-October by violent protests over living costs and school conditions; Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said about 1,200 people were arrested and more than 150 police officers injured on Oct. 17 alone, and young protesters also clashed with police in Brussels, the Times of Israel reported.

Rival courts Washington

Eisenkot's Yashar! party called the speech "hysterical" and "pathetic spin." Likud would be welcome in a broad government only if it publicly broke with "the extremists," accepted Eisenkot's four principles, including a commitment to destroying Hamas's military and governing power, and agreed to serve "under Prime Minister Eisenkot," the party said.

Later Saturday, President Isaac Herzog's office said he had informed Eisenkot that he will task him with forming the government at a ceremony Sunday at 5 p.m. Factions totaling 67 lawmakers recommended the former military chief, compared with 46 for Netanyahu. Eisenkot will have 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension.

Eisenkot has signaled he wants to keep Washington close. In a message on Wednesday to friends of Israel in the U.S. and around the world, he said he looks forward to working closely and productively with Trump and his administration, and that Israel "will remain a key and trusted strategic partner of the United States in the Middle East."

Video: Israel's Channel 14 via Clash Report. Photos: Israeli Government Press Office (GPO); The White House (archive)

Trump-endorsed Netanyahu calls for unity government to end Iran nuclear threat