Likud said to scrap election ads highlighting Netanyahu-Trump ties in wake of Iran deal

Party officials assessed rapport with US president wouldn’t boost PM’s chances in the coming election, and made decision even before deal was finalized, unsourced report says

The ruling Likud party has scrapped a planned election campaign push highlighting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close ties with US President Donald Trump, amid domestic dismay with the US-Iran peace deal, according to a new report.

The party reached its decision several days ago as details of the deal emerged, the i24 news outlet reported on Tuesday.

The agreement is expected to halt the US blockade of Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin 60 days of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. It does not dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, and would reportedly require Israel to halt its offensive against Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah. Trump’s own criticism of Israel over the fighting in Lebanon has grown increasingly public and profane in recent weeks, leading to rising Israeli anger and disappointment with the usually popular American leader.

While the agreement materialized, Likud officials assessed that highlighting the two leaders’ rapport would not confer an advantage on Netanyahu in the elections, which are scheduled for October at the latest, the unsourced i24 report said.

The report did not specify how far preparations for the PR push had gone. The outlet did not say if it had approached Likud for comment.

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Likud has played on Netanyahu’s ties to Trump in previous elections, including in a campaign ahead of the September 2019 election that also highlighted the premier’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Critics of the premier make frequent cynical references to that campaign’s slogan, “Netanyahu — a league of his own.”

Israel and the US jointly launched the war on Iran on February 28 in a bid to eliminate its nuclear program, deplete its ballistic missile stockpiles, end its support for terrorist proxies and create the conditions for the fall of the regime.

Iran responded with missile and drone strikes across the region and by imposing a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade choked off about a fifth of the world’s oil shipments, triggering a global spike in energy prices.

The price hikes placed political pressure on Trump to end the war, which was unpopular in the US even as it enjoyed broad public support in Israel.

The war entered a truce on April 8 without the US and Israel having achieved any of their stated goals. Israel was not involved in the negotiations for a peace deal and is not a party to the agreement, which is set to be formally signed by the sides on Friday in Switzerland, having already been digitally signed on Sunday.

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