President Donald Trump was gifted a golden pager by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after similar devices were used by Israel to blow up Hezbollah terrorists last year.
Netanyahu was the first foreign leader Trump hosted at the White House as he kicks off his second term.
Israeli media first reported the gift – with the Israeli prime minister’s Hebrew language account sharing a picture of it on Thursday.
‘Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a golden beeper at the successful summit meeting in Washington,’ the post said via English translation.
Israel orchestrated an attack dubbed ‘Operation Grim Beeper’ on Hezbollah in September when they exploded thousands of handheld pagers and walkie-talkies simultaneously in separate events in Lebanon and Syria.
The attack killed at least 42 people – and at least 12 civilians.
Initially Israel denied it was responsible for the attack – but sang a very different tune on Thursday.
‘The pager symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turnaround in the war and the starting point for breaking the spirit of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,’ the X post said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented President Donald Trump with a golden beeper during his White House visit Tuesday, Israeli media first reported. The prime minister’s Hebrew language X account shared an image of the gift on Thursday
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) sits beside President Donald Trump (right) in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Netanyahu was Trump’s first foreign leader guest of his second term
‘This strategic operation expresses Israel’s power, technological superiority, and cunning against its enemies,’ the prime minister’s office said.
The golden pager was mounted on wood and reads ‘press with both hands.’
‘To President Donald J. Trump, Our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,’ the inscription said.
Netanyahu’s visit to the White House Tuesday produced global headlines after Trump pitched an ‘out of the box’ idea on what to do with war-ravaged Gaza.
Trump suggested that the U.S. would ‘take over’ the Gaza strip – the home of 2.1 Palestinians – and turn it into the ‘the Riviera of the Middle East.’
‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,’ Trump said at his press conference alongside Netanyahu Tuesday evening.
‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site … level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings,’ he continued.
President Donald Trump (right) shakes the hand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) at a press conference in which Trump pitched turning wartorn Gaza, the home of the Palestinians, into ‘the Riviera of the Middle East’
Trump even floated that U.S. troops could be involved.
The idea received widespread condemnation from most Democrats on Capitol Hill and Arab-American and Muslim leaders.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said multiple times that the president did not commit American troops to Gaza – where Hamas, the group responsible for the October 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel, is still in control.
‘I would reject the premise of your question, that this forces the United States to be entangled in conflict abroad,’ she said. ‘The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.’
‘His administration is going to work with our partners in the region to reconstruct this region,’ she continued.
‘Let me just take a step back here because this is an out of the box idea,’ she said. ‘That’s who President Trump is and that’s why the American people elected him. And his goal is lasting peace in Middle East for all people in the region.’
Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said that moving Palestinians out of Gaza would only be temporary.
Rubio called the plan Wednesday a ‘very generous’ from Trump.
‘In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,’ the secretary of State said during his trip to Guatemala City.
