President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands in the Oval Office of the White House, March 25, 2019. Image by Michael Reynolds – Pool/Getty Images

By Aiden Pink July 17, 2019

Election posters promoting Israel’s conservative Likud Party were spotted in Tel Aviv with an unusual English-language slogan: “Make Israel Great Again.”

The posters echoed President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Likud party leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of Trump’s closest global allies.

“This is not part of the formal campaign,” A Likud official told Jerusalem Post reporter Lahav Harkov.

Official or not, it wouldn’t be the first time Likud and Trump have been linked in election materials. A giant Likud campaign poster of Netanyahu and Trump shaking hands was posted in Tel Aviv in February along with the caption, “Netanyahu is in a different league,” the Times of Israel reported. And a “Make America Great Again” flag was waved at Likud’s election night party in April.

After Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition, new elections were called for this September.

Trump is popular in Israel due to his recognition of Jerusalem as the country’s capital and his recognition of its sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Several locations in Israel, including a new town in the Golan and a Jerusalem train station, have been named in his honor.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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