Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday gave his renewed endorsement to U.S. President Donald Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize as the end of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza comes into view.
“Give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize — he deserves it!” Netanyahu’s account posted on X, accompanied by a gold medal emoji and an illustration of the triumphant U.S. president accepting an award and applause from a crowd.
The Norwegian committee will announce the winner of the storied prize, which Trump has long coveted, on Friday.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a U.S.-proposed peace deal aimed at ending the prolonged Gaza conflict, which includes the release of all Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group and a partial Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
The war, ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that killed around 1,200 people on Israeli soil, has left more than 67,000 Palestinians dead, making it the bloodiest conflict between the two sides since Israel’s founding.
Netanyahu originally nominated Trump for the award in July, citing America’s role in striking Iran’s nuclear program and brokering the cease-fire that ended the fighting between the Middle Eastern adversaries. “It’s well deserved, and you should get it,” Netanyahu told Trump during a meeting at the White House on July 7.
Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for ending seven wars during his second term as U.S. president. The U.S. State Department provided a list of the conflicts Trump was referring to which include: Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Thailand and Cambodia, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.
While Trump’s claims have been met with skepticism among foreign policy experts, and fact-checking by various media outlets, his role in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza has drawn praise from international leaders as well as people in Israel and Gaza.
The Nobel Peace Prize, established by 19th-century chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel, is awarded annually to the individual who has done “the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Former U.S. President Barack Obama — a longtime nemesis of Trump — received the prize in 2009, becoming the fourth American president to be honored.
The award remains one of the most debated in the prize’s history, as Obama’s presidency continued U.S. military operations across several regions, prompting critics to question how closely his record aligned with the ideals set out by Nobel himself.
This story is being updated.
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