'Mr. President, he is winning': Netanyahu aide told Trump despite weak polls - report

On July 28, US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office to inquire about Netanyahu's poll performance ahead of Israel's upcoming Knesset election on October 27, according to a report by Axios. One of Netanyahu's advisers informed Trump during the meeting that "he is winning," citing a US official familiar with the conversation.

At the time, the coalition bloc held 49 predicted Knesset seats, falling 12 short of the 62 seats required for a majority. A more recent poll conducted on Friday predicted 48 seats. Netanyahu sought Trump's endorsement for his reelection campaign prior to the October 27 election, people familiar with the situation stated.

Throughout the months preceding the meeting, Trump had publicly advised Netanyahu against conducting further strikes in Lebanon and expressed a desire for Israel to withdraw from parts of Syria. On multiple occasions, Trump had suggested that Washington and Jerusalem might not share the same views on certain regional issues. Recently, Trump reportedly remarked that "Bibi is his own worst enemy," as per Axios, based on conversations with two individuals who discussed Netanyahu with Trump.

After the meeting, it was announced that entrepreneur Oren Dobronsky, a co-founder of the tech company Hotbar and a resident of Silicon Valley, would receive Netanyahu's first reserved slot on the Likud party's Knesset list. Dobronsky had previously criticized Trump, referring to him as a "morally corrupt person" on X/Twitter. However, Dobronsky later retracted the statement, stating that Trump had been "the greatest friend that Israel ever had in the Whitehouse" and that his previous remarks had been an overreaction due to a lack of facts.

Dobronsky, well-known in both the Israeli and American tech sectors, co-founded a company that developed an Internet browser toolbar and later achieved a significant exit by investing in startups.