U.S. President Donald Trump publicly threw his support behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, eight days before Israelis go to the polls, in a lengthy post on his social media platform that praised the Israeli leader’s toughness, courage and intellect in the face of fierce opposition. The endorsement stirred a campaign that had until then generated little excitement, though political observers in Israel expect its influence to fade well before the Oct. 27 vote.

Part of the reason lies in how Israelis have come to view the American president. Many believe he brought the fighting in Iran and Lebanon to a close before Israel had accomplished its aims, and his frequent reversals on policy have left the public uncertain of where he stands. Even on the political right, which forms the core of Netanyahu’s base, enthusiasm for Trump cooled noticeably after he declared a cease-fire with Iran in June, a move that many feared left Israel’s security concerns unresolved.

American presidents have traditionally avoided openly favoring candidates in other countries’ elections so as not to appear to meddle in their internal politics. Trump has shown no such hesitation. While he has signaled support for Netanyahu in earlier Israeli campaigns, Sunday’s statement appears to be the first time he has formally endorsed him.

Recent polling shows Netanyahu and his coalition partners locked in a close contest with the opposition bloc, raising the possibility that neither side will be able to assemble a governing majority after the vote. Analysts said voters have long since factored the relationship between the two men into their thinking. That relationship has swung between close friendship and open hostility, with Trump at times cursing Netanyahu and belittling him publicly, remarking that the prime minister would do whatever he was told.

Daniel B. Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel, described a post on social media as a fairly modest gesture compared with what an American president might once have offered, and predicted that the story would be forgotten by Election Day. By Monday morning, the leading Hebrew-language news sites had already turned their attention elsewhere, and one prominent outlet recalled that Trump’s involvement in other foreign races, including Hungary’s earlier this year, did not always produce the outcome he wanted.

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat and political commentator, suggested that Trump’s assurance that Netanyahu would never disappoint his voters might strike the prime minister’s critics as out of touch. Much of the campaign has centered on who bears responsibility for the policy, military and intelligence failures that preceded the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, the deadliest day in Israel’s history, which took place while Netanyahu was in office. That attack set off the war in Gaza and was followed by Israeli operations in Lebanon and a joint campaign with the United States against Iran. Israel’s adversaries suffered heavy losses but were not fully defeated, and Netanyahu maintains that the work is unfinished.

In his post, Trump vowed to complete the campaign against Iran should the regime fail to change course, but implied he would not do so if Israelis elected someone other than Netanyahu. The remark led some in Israel to wonder whether the two leaders had already agreed on a further joint strike against Iran once the election is over.

Netanyahu responded by thanking Trump, calling him the strongest friend Israel has ever had in the White House and pledging that the two countries would together prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. In a video statement, he went on to praise the president’s resolve and steadiness, saying Israel, the United States and the wider world were fortunate to have him.

Trump has handed Netanyahu significant political victories in the past. Shortly before Israel’s 2019 election, he recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and he has since called for Netanyahu to be pardoned in his ongoing corruption trial, in which the prime minister denies any wrongdoing. Their ties have nonetheless grown strained at times. Last year, the Israeli government announced that Trump would receive the Israel Prize, the nation’s highest civilian honor, but he never traveled to Israel to accept it, and the two leaders did not hold a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last month.