Hegseth Holds Unannounced Israel Talks With Netanyahu as Trump Backs Him Before 1-Week Vote
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Oct 20
Hegseth Holds Unannounced Israel Talks With Netanyahu as Trump Backs Him Before 1-Week Vote
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Oct 20
Summary
Axios reported Pete Hegseth met Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday during an undisclosed visit, a trip neither the Pentagon nor Israel’s embassy in Washington immediately confirmed.
No agenda was disclosed, but the meeting paired a hawkish Trump ally with an Israeli prime minister campaigning before next week’s parliamentary election.
Trump gave Netanyahu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” on Sunday, praising him as a US ally in the war on Iran and urging voters to back him.
JD Vance declined to join that endorsement on Monday, saying he backs American candidates only even after supporting Viktor Orban earlier this year.
Polls suggest Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition could lose its governing majority, though the opposition may also struggle to assemble a government.