METULA, Israel — Even amid a ceasefire, the sounds of war still reverberate through the countryside along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Few places have felt the ripple effects of the Iran war and the brunt of Hezbollah more than Metula, the northernmost community in Israel. Surrounded by Lebanon on three sides, the scenic town is uniquely exposed to attacks by the Iranian proxy group.

Until recently, an American flag flew beside Israeli flags in Metula’s town center. Then Mayor David Azoulay took it down.

He is that offended by President Donald Trump.

“I have massive gratitude to him because he really seriously helped release all the hostages” held by Hamas, Azoulay told MS NOW. “And he supports Israel in a lot of ways.”

“But we are not a banana republic, let us vote for whoever we want and don’t interfere with that,” Azoulay said.

Azoulay said Trump’s failure to finish the job in Iran and interference in Israeli elections with his eleventh-hour endorsement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soured him on the American president.

“You have to understand that this regime in Iran sends its tentacles all over: Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis,” Azoulay said. “I fully support the fact that this regime has to go.”

“We started this campaign together and regrettably, Trump is talking a lot and doing less,” he said.

Both Trump and Netanyahu have threatened to escalate attacks on Iran in recent weeks, with the U.S. leader hesitant to take action that could negatively impact his political party in the midterms.

After the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, most of Metula’s 2,500 residents were evacuated amid frequent missile and rocket bombardment from Hezbollah in northern Israel. Ninety percent of its homes have been destroyed or damaged.

In March, following the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran, the Israeli military invaded Lebanon and pushed the threat from Hezbollah away from the border — causing extensive damage to infrastructure and civilian casualties in Lebanon in the process.

Over the past year and a half, the locals of Metula have returned, bringing life — and hope — back to the community. But the longer the Iran war drags on and U.S.-led peace talks between Israel and Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah remain precarious, the longer it will take for Metula to fully rebuild.

“We are still at war. … We try to lead a normal town life,” Azoulay said just steps away from a bustling cafe filled with families and kids running around.

Hagai Rosenbaum, a fruit farmer whose family has lived in Metula for generations, said the Netanyahu government should be doing more to help, especially when it comes to clearing remnants of rockets and unexploded ordnance from his farmland.

“A lot of cluster bombs were falling in Metula, and actually, I’m afraid,” he said, standing in his kiwi orchard amid peak harvest season. “Every time I walk, I look down more than before.”

Rosenbaum said locals encounter debris and parts of Iranian rockets “all the time.” Minutes later, he pointed out a mangled, charred piece of an exploded projectile.

As he walked through the rows of kiwi plants, the sound of a mortar round cracked throughout the valley.

“This is normal,” Rosenbaum reassured reporters with him, adding the jarring sound came from the Israeli military firing toward Lebanon, where destroyed structures were visible on the distant hills surrounding the harvest.

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TEL AVIV, Israel — Along a major road in Tel Aviv, a digital billboard features a smiling President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu with a Hebrew message that reads: “Vote Netanyahu! Only with him will we finish the job.”

Even if Trump never actually said those words, when Trump endorsed Netanyahu nine days before Israel’s upcoming election, the sentiment was similar.

Given the ongoing war with Iran, Trump is reluctant to build a brand-new relationship with an Israeli prime minister he does not know as well.

“If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump wrote in his glowing Truth Social post backing Netanyahu.

Trump called Netanyahu “an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

It was the first time a U.S. president had explicitly backed a candidate for Israeli prime minister — another example of Trump departing from the longstanding American tradition of not publicly endorsing candidates in foreign elections.

Like Trump’s barnstorming efforts to save the candidacies of Republicans running in midterms in the U.S., the elections in Israel on Tuesday will be another test of the power of Trump’s endorsement.

During Trump’s first time in office, his popularity in Israel grew as he recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, helped move the Israeli capital and U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and brokered the Abraham Accords.

His securing of a deal with Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza — after Netanyahu faced criticism for not prioritizing the lives of Israeli hostages over eliminating Hamas leaders — also burnished his legacy with the Israeli population.

While once widely popular in Israel, public opinion of Trump has recently taken a hit, in large part due to the memorandum of understanding with Iran he signed in June.

“I’m, right now, at 99% in Israel,” Trump boasted in May. By July, Israeli confidence in Trump hit a record low: Only 7% of Israelis had a “great deal” of confidence in Trump, with 45% saying they have no confidence, according to a poll by the Jewish People Policy Institute.

In contrast, the first survey in March after the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran recorded 34% were very confident in Trump, compared to 20% who were not. In February, prior to the Iran conflict, 73% of Israelis said Trump was on track to become one of the best or an above-average president.

Former U.S. diplomats and officials, who were surprised by the endorsement, say despite Trump’s frustrations with Netanyahu, he could benefit from the familiar.

“Let’s be very clear: Trump is for Trump, Netanyahu is an instrument,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Arab-Israeli negotiator at the State Department who worked for several presidential administrations.

“I think Iran is really important here,” Miller said, underscoring the focus of Trump’s endorsement post. “Trump thinks he can maneuver and manipulate Netanyahu, and it’s the devil you know.”

And Trump knows Netanyahu well.

“There is an ease of working with the Netanyahu government, and I’m not saying this is good for democracy, I’m just saying they have been around for so long that we know a lot of the players and people,” a former senior Trump administration official told MS NOW, granted anonymity to discuss diplomatic relationships.

If Netanyahu loses, Trump will have to learn how to work with his rival: Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief who leads the centrist Yashar party.

“What you’re talking about here is personality differences, not major ideological differences or even major policy changes,” the former official said, noting the significance if Eisenkot is able to pull off the political feat of building a winning coalition as a political newcomer. “If he can do that, then that’s a pretty good indicator that he’s going to be, or he can be, a savvy player on the world stage with the U.S.”

If Netanyahu’s Likud party does not secure a majority of Knesset seats, weeks or even months of coalition-building will ensue, with the possibility of new elections.

A senior State Department official told MS NOW the Trump administration is prepared for every eventuality of the Israeli elections, including a stalemate.

“We are committed to remaining close partners. We’re going to be able to work constructively with whoever comes out on the other side of the election,” the senior official said.

The Israeli elections could have major implications for America’s primary interests in Israel — Trump’s Gaza peace plan, security in the West Bank, and Israel-Lebanon negotiations — though current and former officials expect those challenges to remain regardless of the results.

But a new Israeli leader could potentially improve the worsening mood toward Israel among the American public and give pro-Israel congressional Democrats cover if Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza, is gone.

“If there’s a change in the government and the prime minister, what it does is it stops the bleeding,” said Dennis Ross, who was the key U.S. envoy in the Middle East peace process during the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. “It reminds everybody that Israel is a democracy, the only one in the Middle East.”

Natan Peretz and his wife Hadas have felt the expanded effects of the Iran war firsthand. The parents of three children live in Shlomi, a small town in northern Israel close to the Lebanon border facing a near constant threat of drone and missile attacks from Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy.

Peretz, 42, had mixed feelings about Trump. He said the Iran war has been “horrible for us.”

”Look, he’s a crazy guy,” he said, speaking to MS NOW in Jerusalem. “He can change his mind in a second.”

Hadas Peretz, 39, once had a positive view of Trump and his support for Israel — until he attempted to negotiate an end to the Iran war without Israel’s involvement. “You cannot talk with terrorists,” she said.

The Peretzes plan to vote against Netanyahu, who they say does not care about helping the people in Israel.

Shimon Friedman and Shragie Strauss, who both moved to Israel from New York, still see Trump as one of Israel’s strongest supporters. They spoke to MS NOW in Jerusalem.

“I used to be actually anti-[Trump], but right now, I’m pro-Israel and I feel like the left wing has gone very far, so I feel like he’s on the right side,” said Friedman, 30.

Strauss was unbothered by the recently tumultuous relationship between Trump and Netanyahu.

“So far, he’s definitely seemed like he stuck up for us a lot,” said Strauss, 26. “Even though at points he’s cursed him out, but I feel like he’s done that to everybody.”

Julia Jester reported this story from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

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