Tel Aviv [Israel], October 13 (ANI): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday nominated US President Donald Trump for the Israel Prize, the country’s highest civilian honour, hailing him as “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”
The announcement was made during a historic Knesset session, where Trump received a prolonged standing ovation for his leadership in brokering a peace deal that resulted in the release of all 20 living hostages and formally ended the two-year war with Hamas.
“I have seen many US presidents, but I have never seen anyone move the world so quickly and decisively as our friend President Donald J Trump,” Netanyahu said during his address. He also praised Trump’s record on Israel, including the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, relocation of the US embassy, acknowledgment of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, support at the United Nations, and his role in initiating the Abraham Accords.
“You’ve already been etched in the history of humanity… We remember our friends, and we know your important and decisive role in bringing back the rest of our hostages,” Netanyahu added, following Hamas’s release of all hostages earlier in the day.
Netanyahu credited Trump with presenting a peace proposal that met Israel’s war objectives and “opened the door to a historic expansion of peace in our region and beyond.”
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana compared Trump to Cyrus the Great, the ancient Persian ruler who enabled Jews to return to Jerusalem from exile. “Mr President, you stand before the people of Israel not as another American president, but as a giant of Jewish history,” Ohana declared.
Trump received a two-and-a-half-minute standing ovation at the Knesset rostrum, accompanied by senior officials including Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Monday marked the formal end of the two-year conflict that began with Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, which claimed over 1,200 Israeli lives and led to the abduction of 251 people.
All 20 living hostages—Elkana Bohbot, Avinatan Or, Yosef-Haim Ohana, Evyatar David, Rom Braslavski, Segev Kalfon, Nimrod Cohen, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Matan Zangauker, Bar Kupershtein, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Gali, Ziv Berman, Matan Angrest, Alon Ohel, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, and Guy Gilboa-Dallal—were safely escorted out of the Gaza Strip by Israeli special forces after being transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross. (ANI)
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