Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Monday that he’s nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — presenting the commander in chief with the letter he sent to the committee responsible for bestowing the honor.
“I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee,” Netanyahu told Trump at the White House.
“It’s the nomination of you for the peace prize, which is well-deserved. And you should get it.”
Netanyahu then reached across the table separating the US and Israeli delegations to hand the letter to Trump.
Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
“This I didn’t know,” a surprised Trump said as he inspected the nomination. “Well, thank you very much.
“Coming from you, in particular, this is very meaningful. Thank you very much.”
Trump’s efforts to secure an Israel-Iran cease-fire, essentially ending the 12-day war between the two nations, had previously earned him nomination for the prize from Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.).
In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Carter recommended Trump for the prestigious prize “in recognition of his extraordinary and historic role in brokering an end to the armed conflict between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet.”
Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House for high-level meetings ahead of a private dinner between the two world leaders.
The Trump administration and Netanyahu’s team were expected to discuss the future of Gaza and the possibility of the Jewish state normalizing relations with Arab nations — but details of any potential progress made on both fronts were scant.
“I think our teams together make an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities,” Netanyahu said ahead of dinner with Trump.
“But the president has already realized a great opportunity to forge the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace as we speak, and one country and one region after the other.”
Netanyahu met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House, the president’s guest house, for an extended meeting, but a readout was not released.
Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff also met with the Israeli prime minister, but similarly, no details were made available about what was discussed.
Trump has pushed for Netanyahu to secure a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that would also result in the release of hostages being held by the terror group in Gaza.
The prime minister, however, has insisted that Israel will not enter into any agreement that allows Hamas’ continued existence in Gaza — a massive sticking point in ending the war.
Netanyahu recently said his delegation meeting with mediators in Qatar has been instructed to reach a deal under those terms.
The Israeli prime minister also maintains that the Israeli military should occupy Gaza indefinitely, with the role of governors transferred to local officials without any known ties to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthis, with the group responding with missile fire targeting Israel.
Reports of a security incident in Gaza resulting in Israeli Defense Force casualties broke during Netanyahu’s White House visit, but Trump indicated that he doesn’t expect it to hamper progress on a cease-fire deal.
“I don’t think so,” Trump said when asked if the reported ambush of IDF soldiers in Gaza would impact negotiations. “They want it. They want to meet and they want to have that cease-fire. So, I don’t think so.”
Witkoff described the incident as “terribly unfortunate” but, directly addressing Netanyahu, argued, “We have an opportunity to finally get a peace deal, Mr. Prime Minister, as we discussed, and I’m hopeful for it very quickly.”
On potentially relocating Palestinians from Gaza to rebuild the strip, as Trump suggested earlier this year, Netanyahu said Israel is working with the Trump administration to find countries “that will seek to realize what they always say: that they want to give the Palestinians a better future.”
“You know, if people want to stay, they can stay. But if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be, you know, a prison,” Netanyahu said of Gaza.
“I think we’re getting close to finding several countries [that will take in Palestinians], and I think this will give, again, the freedom to choose,” he added.
Asked about last month’s US airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump indicated that the Islamic regime “took a big drubbing” and maintained that the three uranium enrichment sites hit by warplanes and cruise missiles were “obliterated.”
The president likened the strike to when the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II.
“I was talking to Bibi about it — that was the very beginning of the end, and it ended very quickly after that,” he said of how his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities quickly ended the Israel-Iran conflict.
“I don’t want to say what it reminded me of,” Trump continued, “But if you go back a long time ago, it reminded people of a certain other event.”
“Harry Truman’s picture is now in the lobby, in a nice location in the lobby, where it should have been – but that stopped, a lot of fighting. And this stopped a lot of fighting.
