The United States defence secretary turned up in Israel on Monday without announcing it — and sat down with Benjamin Netanyahu at a military airbase, one day after Donald Trump threw his “complete and total” endorsement behind the Israeli prime minister’s re-election bid.
Axios broke the news of the visit on Monday, citing two sources with knowledge of the meeting. The outlet reported that it took place at Ovda Air Base in southern Israel, where American aircraft are deployed. Reuters, which reported the Axios scoop, said it could not independently confirm that the meeting happened. The Pentagon declined to comment, and Israel’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hegseth himself said almost nothing. In a social media post confirming he was in the Middle East, he said he was visiting American troops on an unspecified “historic mission” within the area covered by US Central Command — the command that spans the Middle East, north-east Africa and parts of Asia. He did not mention Netanyahu.
The timing is what gives the trip its weight. It came eight days before Israel’s parliamentary election on October 27 — the first national vote since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, which dragged the country into wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Opinion polls suggest Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition is on course to lose its governing majority, although the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party may also fall short of the seats needed to form a government on its own.
Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu, announced on Sunday, already raised eyebrows as an unusually direct American intervention in another country’s campaign. But there is a visible split inside the American administration about how involved to get. Vice-President J.D. Vance, in an interview on Monday with the digital outlet 2WAY, refused to follow Trump’s lead.
“I endorse American candidates, and that’s where I’m focused on is the midterms,” Vance said. “I’m not anti-endorsing him, but I’m not pro-endorsing him, I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections.” That refusal was deliberate: earlier this year Vance travelled to Budapest to campaign for Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He simply chose not to do the same for Netanyahu.
Then there is Iran. The visit comes against the backdrop of discussions between the United States and Israel about resuming military strikes on Iran. Axios has previously reported that Netanyahu has been pressing Washington for another round of attacks, and that Trump told him to “be ready” — without committing to a timeline. On Sunday, Trump said publicly that unless Iran changes its ways “rapidly,” the US and Israel “will soon finish the job.” Iran’s foreign minister answered with open defiance, daring Washington to attack.
For readers outside the region, here is why this matters beyond the campaign trail. A US defence secretary meeting a sitting prime minister eight days before a knife-edge election is extraordinary even by the standards of the US–Israel alliance — a visible show of support layered on top of the president’s verbal endorsement. And it is happening in parallel with open discussion of a new war: the Pentagon has neither confirmed nor denied that war planning was on the table at Ovda.
The region is already living with the consequences of that uncertainty. Oil prices have surged past $110 a barrel as Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure escalate, and US embassies across the Middle East have warned Americans of flight cancellations and attacks. If the Ovda meeting advanced plans for strikes on Iran, the next flashpoint may not wait for the ballots to be counted.
What happens next is unknown — the Pentagon may yet confirm the visit, and Netanyahu’s camp has said nothing. But one thing is clear: with the election eight days away and Iran back on the table, Washington has stopped pretending to keep its distance from Israel’s campaign season.
