US War Secretary Pete Hegseth travelled to Israel on Monday, 19 October 2026, on a trip that had not been announced in advance, and met the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The meeting took place eight days before Israel's parliamentary election, as Washington and Jerusalem consult on resuming large-scale military operations against the Islamic Republic.
Two informed sources revealed the trip. The US War Department and the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment, and the Israeli prime minister's office had not responded to questions hours after the news broke. No details of the two sides' talks have been released.
Trump's backing for Netanyahu and the "unfinished job" with the Islamic Republic
Hegseth's trip came a day after US President Donald Trump openly endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu's candidacy in the Israeli election on Sunday, 18 October. According to Trump, Netanyahu is the only candidate who will not leave Washington alone in confronting the Islamic Republic. After this endorsement, Netanyahu thanked Trump in a phone call and said the two countries have an unfinished mission regarding the Islamic Republic that they must complete together. In a video he released of the conversation, he added that they will finish the job and that no one else will do it.
Netanyahu had earlier said he had ordered the army, the Mossad and all of Israel's security bodies to work toward the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, and Trump had warned that if the Islamic Republic does not change course, America will finish the job.
Israel's election and the cancelled June–July trip
Israel's parliamentary election will be held on Tuesday, 27 October; it is the country's first election in four years and the first since Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack. Polls show Netanyahu's right-wing and religious coalition may lose its parliamentary majority, although his opponents will also face difficulty forming a government. The chief of staff of the Israeli army has put the country's forces on the highest level of alert ahead of the vote.
US Vice President JD Vance, unlike Trump, declined to back Netanyahu, saying he is not interfering in the Israeli election and that his focus is on the US midterm elections. Earlier, in the Iranian month of Tir (June–July), Hegseth had cancelled a planned trip to Israel, which included meetings with Netanyahu and Israel Katz, after a new round of fighting with the Islamic Republic.
The US war secretary's secret meeting with Netanyahu took place in days when the two countries are discussing resuming the war with the Islamic Republic.
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