Trump’s speech to Israel’s Knesset on Monday was interrupted by lawmakers Ofer Cassif and Ayman Odeh, who held signs reading “Recognize Palestine” before they were ejected from the chamber.
Speaking beyond his allotted time after the release of all living Israeli captives held by Palestinian resistance groups, Trump claimed he had ended “eight wars in eight months.”
He said the US makes “the best weapons in the world” and gave them to Israel, “which used them well and achieved peace,” referencing Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack—known among Palestinians as “Al-Aqsa Flood”—and adding, “We will not allow it to be repeated.” He framed his approach as “achieving peace through strength.”
“We will implement peace through strength, and we have weapons no one ever dreamed of; I hope we never have to use them,” he said. “Netanyahu called me repeatedly and asked for all kinds of weapons—and you used them well.”
Last week, Brown University’s Watson Institute “Costs of War” project reported that US military assistance to Israel from October 2023 through September 2025, spanning former President Joe Biden and current President Donald Trump, exceeded $21 billion.
Trump called this “the golden age for Israel and the golden age for the Middle East,” adding, “a land [Israel] and region that will live, God willing, in peace for all eternity.”
He thanked Arab and Muslim countries “that came together to press Hamas to set the hostages free.” Despite a scheduled Sharm El-Sheikh summit, he exceeded his speaking time, in a session where applause often outlasted remarks. “Your speeches [in the Knesset] were long, and I have a meeting with Arab leaders,” he quipped.
Earlier Monday, Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza, freed the remaining 20 Israeli detainees held by Palestinian factions as part of phase one of Trump’s plan to halt the war on Gaza.
On Iran, Trump said, “Together we stopped the number one state-sponsor of terror from obtaining the most dangerous weapons.” He also called for negotiations with Tehran toward a peace agreement, noting that “Iran was only two months away from a nuclear weapon.”.
On June 13, the Israeli military launched an attack on Iran that marked the start of a war in which the United States joined with strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities—Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan—on June 22. Trump later announced a deal to end the 12-day war.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana praised Trump’s support for Israel during the recent war, saying, “The world needs more leaders like him.” Echoing “peace through strength,” Ohana said, “Thanks to you we achieved these gains,” arguing that “true peace can be achieved through power,” and contending that Hamas “had no options and was forced to accept this agreement.”
Ohana openly courted Trump’s ambition for a Nobel Peace Prize, crediting him with “ending a bloody conflict in eight regions around the world and saving many lives,” and vowing a global tour to support nominating him next year: “No one deserves it more than you.”
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu lauded Trump as “the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House. No American president has ever done more for Israel.”
Netanyahu praised steps widely viewed by the international community as undermining negotiations and the two-state solution, including Trump’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US embassy there, which drew broad international condemnation.
He also thanked Trump for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights, and his role in “standing up to the lies against Israel at the United Nations,” a reference to international resolutions condemning occupation and settlement expansion.
Netanyahu thanked Trump for brokering the “Abraham Accords,” which he called “historic,” and, on Iran, he applauded Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, saying, “Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, with your enormous help Mr. President, rolled back.”
Additionally, also thanked Trump for Israel’s participation in strikes on Iran during “Midnight Hammer,” a reference to the attack on the Fordow facility.
In a reference to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Netanyahu said, “We have paid a high price for this war.” Still, he said, “Our enemies now understand just how powerful and just how determined Israel is,” adding that “Hamas caved in.”
At the close of his remarks, Netanyahu presented Trump with the “Israel Prize,” and, again nodding to the Nobel, said: “As for the other prize, it’s a matter of time.”
Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, followed by Jordan in 1994. In 2020, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain became the first Gulf states to sign normalization agreements with Israel; Morocco and Sudan also announced intentions to normalize ties under the umbrella of the Abraham Accords.
In 2022, the foreign ministers of these countries met for the first time in Israel, in the Sde Boker settlement in the Negev desert, joined by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Trump said last month to senior US military leaders: “Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing.” He added it would be “a big insult” to the United States if he did not receive it.
After the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to someone else and Trump’s extensive campaign for the prize was ignored, a White House spokesperson criticized the Nobel Committee’s decision, saying “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives.”
