Hegseth meets Netanyahu in unannounced Israel visit days before a knife-edge election
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has travelled to Israel and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an undisclosed visit, according to Axios. The trip came ahead of a closely contested election in Israel.
Axios, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter, reported that the meeting took place on Monday. Hegseth, a hawkish ally of US President Donald Trump, sat down with the veteran Israeli premier, who is facing a knife-edge election.
The Reuters news agency could not immediately confirm the visit. The Pentagon and Israel's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and there was no immediate indication of what the two men discussed.
On Sunday, President Trump had taken to his social media platform Truth Social to endorse Netanyahu in next week's parliamentary election — the first vote since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in 2023 and the start of Israel's campaign in Gaza.
Trump praised the prime minister for being an ally of the US in its war on Iran, and said Netanyahu had his 'Complete and Total Endorsement'. 'BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!' Trump wrote.
Opinion polls, however, suggest Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition is projected to lose its governing majority, although the opposition may also struggle to form a government.
In contrast with Trump's open backing, US Vice President JD Vance declined on Monday to endorse Netanyahu, saying in an interview that he was not getting involved in Israeli elections.
'I endorse American candidates, and that's where I'm focused on is the midterms,' Vance said in an interview with the digital media outlet 2WAY. 'I'm not anti-endorsing him, but I'm not pro-endorsing him; I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections,' he added.
Vance had earlier this year travelled to Budapest and endorsed Viktor Orban in Hungary's elections — which makes his hands-off stance in the Israeli case stand out all the more.
Washington's two different signals on the eve of the vote — the president's public endorsement, the vice president's declared neutrality, and now the defense secretary's unannounced trip — have drawn fresh attention to the US-Israel relationship ahead of the election.
