Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used a cosy White House dinner to surprise Donald Trump with a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Netanyahu, 75, hand-delivered the nomination letter to a shocked Trump during the soiree on Monday.
The latest meeting with Trump comes as Israel and Hamas start indirect negotiations for a potential ceasefire and hostage deal.
As he passed the nomination letter across the table, Netanyahu said Trump was “forging peace, as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other.”
He then added, “It’s the nomination for the peace prize, which is well deserved and you should get it.”
The president gushed, “Thank you very much, this I didn’t know, wow, thank you very much, coming from you in particular this is very meaningful, thank you very much Bibi.”
Netanyahu, whose nickname is Bibi, added, “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Israel’s nomination follows Pakistan announcing last month they would also nominate Trump for the prestigious award, labelling him a “genuine peacemaker” for ending the country’s four-day conflict with India.
Trump had “demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship,” according to Pakistan’s nomination.
However, less than 24 hours after their nomination, Pakistan condemned the U.S for attacking their ally Iran, saying their airstrikes “constituted a serious violation of international law” and breached the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Trump has been open about his desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize, an award which Barack Obama received in 2009 for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
The president took to Truth Social last month to express his frustrating with the process.
“No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do,” Trump said. “Including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!”
Despite claiming he could use his negotiating skills to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza when he was running for office, both conflicts continue to rage.
“I’m stopping wars. I’m stopping wars. And I hate to see people killed,” Trump claimed at the White House dinner on Monday.
The president did confirm plans to send more weapons to Ukraine. “We have to,” Trump said. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons, your defensive weapons, primarily.”
In front of Netanyahu, Trump also shared his desire to lift sanctions from Iran, saying they are “not the bully anymore.”
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear, military and civilian sites on June 13. The U.S. struck three nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan on June 22. On June 24, Trump announced he had brokered a ceasefire.
Speaking to Netanyahu Monday, Trump said “I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner and not going around saying ‘Death to America, death to the USA, death to Israel’, as they were doing. You know, they were a bully of the Middle East, and now they’re not the bully anymore.”
During the dinner, Trump also replayed his claim that Iran gave the U.S. advance warning before they attacked an American airbase in Qatar last month.
“In the end, 14 missiles were shot and every single missile was shot out of the air, it was pretty amazing,” Trump said.
“They told us they were coming and where they were and what time they were coming and they said ‘If you’d like to have a different time, we’ll do that’.”
He said, “That’s respect when they do that. I appreciate that they did that. There was no surprise. We got the soldiers out of the base in Qatar in this case but they knew they were coming. 14 missiles were coming.”
The post Trump’s Fawning Reply to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Nobel Peace Prize Surprise appeared first on The Daily Beast.
