(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possibility of moving forward with a U.S.-Israeli mutual defense treaty during a phone call on Saturday.
The two leaders would continue discussing the possible treaty after Israel's general election on Tuesday and when they meet at the United Nations later in September, Trump said in a series of tweets.
Already Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu is heading into the Sept. 17 election with polls showing him neck-and-neck with top rival Benny Gantz, a former Israeli Defense Force Chief of General Staff. Last week, Netanyahu promised to annex a portion of the West Bank if he's re-elected, land Palestinians see as integral to any future state.
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Netanyahu affirmed Trump's tweets with two of his own and extolled the U.S. president's support for Israel.
The UN's 74th General Assembly begins in New York on Sept. 17.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sebastian Tong in San Francisco at stong41@bloomberg.net;Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah Kopit at skopit@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, Linus Chua
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