.jpg%3Ftrim%3D0%2C32%2C0%2C31%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
Israel's Netanyahu nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize amid hopes for Gaza ceasefire
The Prime Minister handed Trump a copy of the letter he sent placing his name in nomination with the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citing what he described as Trump's 'leadership of a just cause' by allowing American warplanes to strike Iranian nuclear sites last month, as well as what he called 'the pursuit of peace and security' in 'many lands.'
'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,' said Netanyahu, who also praised Trump's 'extraordinary team.'
'I think our teams together make an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities. But the President has already realized great opportunities. He forged the Abraham accords. He's forging peace, as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other.'
The Israeli leader's comments came during a brief media availability at the start of what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described as a 'private dinner' during a press briefing with reporters earlier on Monday.
Leavitt did not go into detail about planned topics of conversation but said there were 'many important matters' that were 'obviously ongoing' in the Middle East region for the leaders to discuss.
Leavitt also said Trump's 'utmost priority' in the region is to bring an end to Israel's nearly three-year-old war against Hamas in Gaza and for the militant group to return all of the hostages it has held since the October 7 terror attacks.
'As you know, there was a ceasefire proposal that Israel supports, that was sent to Hamas, and we hope that they will agree to this proposal. We want to see all of the hostages released. That's on the top of the President's mind, so that will be discussed, as well as the many other positive developments we've seen in the Middle East,' Leavitt said.
Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington in the wee hours of Monday morning, spent much of the day huddling with his own staff at Blair House, the official guest house for foreign leaders, across the street from the president's home and office at the White House.
Before taking the short drive across Pennsylvania Avenue, the Israeli leader met with a pair of top Trump aides: Steve Witkoff, the real estate developer and longtime Trump friend who serves as the president's roving special envoy, and Marco Rubio, the former Florida senator turned Secretary of State and Trump White House national security adviser.
The meeting with Rubio wrapped at approximately 6:00 pm ET, at which point the Secretary of State headed to the White House, where he was expected to attend the dinner with the two leaders along with Witkoff, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, and Mike Huckabee, the ex-Arkansas governor turned U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
Leavitt said Witkoff is set to travel to Doha, Qatar, later this week to engage in dialogue with the Qatari and Egyptian negotiators who have in turn been engaging with Hamas negotiators over the ceasefire proposal, which she described as 'agreeable and appropriate.'
Trump said last week that Israel had agreed to the 'necessary conditions to finalize' a 60-day truce to allow negotiations 'to end the war' and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsened.
The president has been piling pressure on both sides to broker a ceasefire and hostage release agreement, promising that a deal could come together this week.
The Independent understands the current 60-day structure on the table would lead to the release of 10 living captives and 15 bodies of those killed in Gaza. In exchange, there would be a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of Gaza, more aid would be allowed in, and talks would begin for a permanent ceasefire.
On Sunday, Trump told reporters he believes negotiators are 'very close to a deal on Gaza.'
'I think there's a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week pertaining to quite a few of the hostages. You know, we've gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few, we think we'll have that done this week,' he said.
The president also said his administration is working on a 'permanent deal' with Iran that would see Tehran give up its nuclear program following the airstrikes by U.S. warplanes last month.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Why a top Cabinet secretary was glaringly missing during Trump's marathon meeting with his closest advisers
One of the most prominent and publicly-recognized members of President Donald Trump 's Cabinet was missing from Tuesday's meeting at the White House. Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy was glaring absent from the table at the president's marathon sit down in the Cabinet Room. Kennedy was on international travel, a spokesperson said. 'Due to long-planned international travel, the Secretary couldn't attend today's Cabinet meeting. However, he remains in constant contact with HHS leadership and today took decisive action by declaring a public health emergency for the State of Texas,' an HHS spokesperson told Daily Mail. No additional details were given. Trump held the sixth Cabinet meeting of his administration. Other prominent secretaries - including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth - were present to chat with the president about the work of his administration. Kennedy is one of the most notorious and controversial cabinet members. His controversial views on vaccines has led to some accusing him of spreading misinformation on the issue. In fact several leading medical groups are suing Kennedy over changes to federal COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. The suit - which includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Association - was filed in federal court and asks for a reversal of Kennedy's decision to remove pregnant women and healthy children from the COVID-19 vaccine schedule. Kennedy has pushed a Make America Healthy Again agenda - a play off Trump's campaign slogan of Make America Great Again. But even that plan came under fire when the news outlet NOTUS reported that seven of the more than 500 studies cited in the HHS report - which decried America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs - did not appear to have ever been published. The administration shrugged it off as 'formatting issues.' President Trump has been supportive of his health secretary. Kennedy is also moving to ban dyes in food and fluoride in water. The son of the late Attorney General Robert Kennedy made his own presidential bid as a Democrat before dropping out of the contest and endorsing Trump.
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Albanese accused of neglecting the US
By Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of sidelining Australia's alliance with the United States ahead of his upcoming trip to China. Albanese acknowledged Australia's pivot towards the United States during World War II during a speech at an event commemorating former Labor leader John Curtin. 'John Curtin is rightly honored as the founder of Australia's alliance with the United States, a pillar of our foreign policy that commands bipartisan support, respect and affection,' he told the crowd on Saturday. 'But our alliance with the US ought to be remembered as a product of Curtin's leadership in defense and foreign policy, not the extent of it. The comments, framed as Albanese's 'progressive patriotism', have drawn criticism for downplaying Australia's alliance with the US at a critical time. The address came just weeks after US President Donald Trump cancelled his scheduled face-to-face meeting with Albanese at the G7 Summit in Canada, to deal with escalations in the Middle East. It also follows Australia rejecting calls from Washington to raise defense spending from around two to five percent of GDP. At the same time, key NATO allies have agreed to ramp up their military budgets to the 5 per cent target, following a summit in The Hague and pressure from the US. Sky News host Paul Murray said Albanese's attempt to draw similarities between present day and the Curtin-era was 'taking the piss'. 'What I did find offensive about the suggestion from the speech on Saturday was, "Oh, well, this is just like John Curtin. We know how to balance things",' he said. 'The only reason we need to build up our military is because of China, not because of America.' Meanwhile, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan called on Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong to be more transparent about their foreign policy strategy. 'I think the Australian people deserve to know, does the Albanese government view America as the most important friend and ally to our country... which has been the case since John Curtin made that shift ,' he told Sky News. 'Or do they think we should replace the United States with the likes of a dictatorial communist regime in Beijing?' Opposition Leader Sussan Ley also criticized the Curtin speech, saying Albanese needed to do more to build on the alliance in the United States. 'At a time of global uncertainty, growing conflict and a growing list of issues in the Australia-United States relationship, now is a time to build our influence in Washington, not diminish it,' Ley said in a statement. 'Many Australians will wonder whether this speech at this time was in our national interest, given so many things crucial to Australia's future are currently being considered by the US administration.' It is understood that artificial intelligence, healthcare and a revised trade agreement will be top of the agenda when Albanese meets with his Chinese counterpart.
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Woke Maine governor melts down at surprise question about VERY bad habit she's accused of having
Maine Governor Janet Mills spiraled into a public outburst after being unexpectedly pressed about her alleged cocaine habit, stemming from a decades-old scandal. The Democratic lawmaker, 77, was approached in Washington DC last month - with the man behind the camera asking jaw-dropping questions about the white powdery drug. 'Is sniffing cocaine at work a human right, Janet,' the brazen interviewer, who shared the footage with Fox Digital, asked the blue pant suit-wearing politician. 'What the f**k,' Mills responded as she briefly stopped in her tracks from the jarring question - a dig at a drug scandal she was accused of being involved in during the 1990s. The persistent inquirer did not stop there, asking Mills has much the cost of an 'eight ball' - slang for an eight-ounce portion - has gone up due to inflation. But she did not take the bait on that one and shared no response as she continued walking away. This video was sent to Fox days after it was revealed the Department of Justice shot down Mills' assertion that the investigation into her alleged drug use decades ago was politically motivated. More than 30 years ago, Mills was probed by Maine's US Attorney's Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the state's Bureau of Intergovernmental Drug Enforcement (BIDE). Mills, who was then serving as a district attorney, was named in a tip from a drug suspect. She was never charged with any crimes, and has since claimed she was subjected to the reputation-tarnishing accusations because of her left-leaning political stances and her criticism of BIDE. 'It's scary,' Mills told the Portland Press Herald in 1991. 'Maine apparently has a secret police force at work that can ruin the reputation of any who opposes it.' Despite maintaining her stance that she was set up, Fox recently dug up a 1995 memo from the DOJ, claiming all of Mills' claims that she was being libeled, slandered and politically attacked were 'unsubstantiated.' According to the memo, Mills had sued a WCSH-TV at the end of 1990 for reporting that she was being investigated by a grand jury over alleged illicit substance use. Her lawyer then claimed 'the press received leaks from BIDE law enforcement officials.' While the details of the lawsuit brought against the reporter are not available, according to Fox, a Lewiston Sun-Journal story from 1991 states attempts to 'end drug probe rumors' were disregarded by a judge. Mills had also accused investigators of falsifying testimonies and threatening witnesses to give unflattering statements, but the department found evidence of no such things. 'The USAO in Maine conducted a proper investigation of serious allegations; no misconduct of any kind can fairly be attributed to any member of that office,' the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility found in 1995, according to Fox. Mills recently found her self embroiled in a transgender sports battle with President Donald Trump. Trump had accused Maine of failing to comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports. Soon after the secretary's letter was sent, Maine's Department of Education could not access several sources of federal funds for a state nutrition program, according to the court´s written order. Maine quickly sued the Trump administration, where the state's attorneys argued that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. At the start of May, Trump agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for the state's child nutrition program after initially suspending those dollars due to the disagreement. In response, the state dropped its lawsuit that had been filed against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced. 'It's unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations,' Frey said in a statement.
