Washington DC: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he had officially nominated US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his leadership in brokering the Abraham Accords and advancing peace in the Middle East.
Netanyahu revealed the nomination during a dinner meeting with Trump at the White House, where he personally handed over a copy of the nomination letter.
“The President has already realised great opportunities. He forged the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace as we speak in one country, in one region after the other. So, I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. It’s nominating you for the Peace Prize, which is well deserved, and you should get it,” said Netanyahu.
Trump, visibly surprised, thanked the Israeli Prime Minister.
“Thank you very much. This I did not know. Wow, thank you very much. Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful,” Trump responded.
Seated across from Netanyahu at the dinner, Trump remarked on their longstanding relationship and shared achievements.
“It’s an honour to have Bibi (Netanyahu) and Sara (Netanyahu’s wife) with us… We had a tremendous success together. And I think it will only go on to be even greater success in the future. So, it’s really nice to have you at the White House. It’s nothing like the White House… We’ve worked together for a long time. We’ve done well together.”
Netanyahu, in turn, praised Trump’s leadership on the world stage:
“I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people and many, many admirers around the world, for your leadership, your leadership of the free world, your leadership of a just cause, and the pursuit of peace and security which you are leading in many lands, but now especially in the Middle East.”
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House in Washington.
“This evening, I met at Blair House in Washington with the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. We held a substantive and important conversation about strengthening the alliance between Israel and the U.S., and about the shared challenges we face in the regional and international arena,” Netanyahu posted on X.
Before departing for the US, Netanyahu indicated that Israeli negotiators had been instructed to achieve a ceasefire agreement with Hamas under acceptable terms. He expressed hope that discussions with President Trump could advance progress on the ongoing hostage negotiations.
“We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” Netanyahu said, adding that the Trump meeting could “definitely help advance this” deal.
Out of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack, 49 remain in Gaza, with 27 declared dead by the Israeli military.
Netanyahu has previously rejected Hamas’s response to a US-backed draft ceasefire deal, calling their demands “unacceptable.” The draft, mediated via Qatar and Egypt, includes a 60-day ceasefire, phased hostage releases, Israeli troop withdrawals, and talks on ending the war.
The high-profile dinner and Nobel nomination come amid intensifying international focus on Gaza and mounting diplomatic pressure to broker peace in the region.