Channel 12 says Netanyahu pressed Trump to restart the Iran war the day after the midterms
A two-source broadcast account of a private telephone call, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, puts the Iran file back at the centre of Israeli politics while the coalition question is unresolved.
Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu telephoned Donald Trump on Saturday, October 31, urging him to resume the war against Iran immediately after the US midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, and that Trump currently wants to give diplomacy with Tehran more time. The sourcing chain matters: the call was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, and Channel 12’s account rests on one Israeli and one American source familiar with it. The Times of Israel carried it in English. No Israeli or US official has confirmed any of it on the record. It sits atop prior reporting: the New York Times on October 21–22 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed renewed strikes with Netanyahu in Israel, and ABC News on October 22 that the IDF and US military have drawn up plans for joint strikes, per two Israeli sources, with the White House saying it would not strike before November 3.
The domestic response came on the record on Sunday. Democrats chairman Yair Golan said Netanyahu lacks the public trust to renew the war, accused him of “abandoning the lives of civilians,” and said he would initiate renewed hostilities “with his personal and political considerations guiding him.” Haaretz’s editorial the same day told the opposition to say “enough with Iran,” arguing the public should not again pay for a war with no clear strategic purpose; its news-side analysis ran under the headline “Netanyahu’s fight to stay in power puts Iran back in the picture.” The US and Israel have been at war with Iran since February 28, 2026.
Assessment: Treat this as a claim about a conversation, not an event. The reporting is consistent across outlets because it originates in one WSJ story and two anonymous sources; consistency of that kind measures circulation, not corroboration. What is independently visible is the calendar: a caretaker prime minister without a majority, a presidential consultation under way, and an American electoral date after which Washington’s own stated restraint expires. Whether or not the call happened as described, the leak itself does work in Jerusalem — it reframes a man eight seats short as a war leader mid-decision. Watch for an on-the-record denial, or the conspicuous absence of one.