Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted President Donald Trump something very memorable while visiting with him at the White House on Tuesday.
The Times of Israel reported Netanyahu actually gave the president two gifts: pagers — a golden one and a regular one.
The golden one was to commemorate Israel’s successful operation in September that involved thousands of pagers exploding last year, killing and injuring Hezbollah operatives, including many in leadership.
The inscription on the golden pager read, “To President Donald J. Trump, Our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“That was a great operation,” Trump responded upon receiving the gift, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news, the Times said.
🇺🇸🇮🇱 A gift from PM Netanyahu to President Trump: A golden pager to memorialize the September, 2024 operation against Hezbollah. Wow! pic.twitter.com/oUbbYtf8vG
— RJC (@RJC) February 6, 2025
A day after the pager attack, “hundreds of walkie-talkies also blew up, killing and injuring scores more,” according to the Times.
In September, Reuters reported, based on unnamed sources, that Israel’s Mossad intercepted and planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers that had been ordered by Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon.
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“The operation was an unprecedented Hezbollah security breach that saw thousands of pagers detonate across Lebanon, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others, including the group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut,” Reuters said.
Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Trump’s return to power.
“This is a testament to your friendship and support for the Jewish state and the Jewish people,” the prime minister said to Trump during a joint news conference at the White House.
“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the joint press conference with US President Donald Trump:
“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. That’s why the people of Israel have such enormous respect for you.”
Full remarks >>https://t.co/nVafaOIFpI pic.twitter.com/mllENrFjX1
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 5, 2025
Netanyahu listed some of the actions that Trump took during his first term in support of the Jewish State, including recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and moving the U.S. embassy there.
The president also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, which Netanyahu very much opposed.
Trump also brokered the Abraham Accords, in which Israel made peace with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
Since taking office the second time, Netanyahu noted that Trump helped negotiate the release of Israeli and American hostages from Hamas terrorists and allowed the transfer of munitions that had been held back by the Biden administration.
Trump said that, despite a testing of the alliance between the U.S. and Israel during the Biden administration, “the bonds of friendship … have endured for generations, and they are absolutely unbreakable.”
“I’m confident that under our leadership, the cherished alliance between our two countries will soon be stronger than ever,” he added.
Trump gave Netanyahu a picture of the two of them from Tuesday’s visit inscribed, “To Bibi, a great leader,” according to the Times.
So it appears the close working relationship begun during Trump’s first term has picked up right where it left off.
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