President Donald Trump will become the first non-Israeli to receive Israel’s top civilian honor, the “Israel Prize,” announced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference with the two leaders at Mar-a-Lago.
“In almost our 80 years, we’ve never awarded it to a non-Israeli, and we’re going to award it this year to President Trump,” Netanyahu said. “It’s going to be awarded to President Donald J. Trump for his tremendous contributions to Israel and the Jewish people.”
NEW: Benjamin Netanyahu announces that President Donald Trump is being awarded with the “Israel Prize.”
It has never been awarded to a non-Israeli, according to Netanyahu. pic.twitter.com/VK7OfJsRju
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) December 29, 2025
The award will be for the newly established peace category.
Netanyahu said that he hopes Trump will visit Israel on its Independence Day in May to accept the prize.
“I have to say that this reflects the overwhelming sentiment of Israelis across the spectrum,” Netanyahu said of Israeli citizens who are often split on a variety of issues but are grateful to Trump for securing the release of all living hostages from Hamas captivity.
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Trump learned that he was being awarded the prize by Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch, who called into the Trump-Netanyahu meeting.
“That really is a great honor,” Trump responded, adding that it was “really surprising and very much appreciated.”
Following his sixth meeting with Netanyahu this year, Trump said he is focused on the future of Gaza, including the objective of getting Hamas to finally disarm, adding that it would be “horrible for them” if the terror group does not.
“It’ll be horrible for them — horrible, really, really bad for them,” Trump said. “I don’t want that to happen, but they made an agreement that they were going to disarm.”
The president said that if Hamas continues to resist, the 59 countries that backed the ceasefire will get involved, adding, “This is a real peace in the Middle East.”
“Based on the fact that Hamas pledged, they swore that they were going to disarm. Now, if they’re not going to disarm, those same countries will wipe out Hamas,” Trump said.
“Based on the fact that Hamas pledged, they swore that they were going to disarm. Now, if they’re not going to disarm, those same countries will wipe out Hamas.” – President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mYIBfZzCV0
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 29, 2025
Upon welcoming Netanyahu to his Palm Beach estate, Trump said he would support an Israeli military strike on Iran if its regime continues advancing its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
“The missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast,” Trump said. “One would be yes, absolutely, the other was, we’ll do it immediately.”
The president also noted that the Iranian people were expressing discontent as their country suffers from inflation, a “bust” economy, and the threat of violence or death when protesting.
“Every time they have a rioter, or someone forms a group, little or big, they start shooting people. You know, they kill people,” Trump said. “They’re vicious, vicious people.”
On Sunday and Monday, protests and strikes erupted across Tehran following a historic collapse of Iran’s currency, which reportedly plunged to 1.42 million rials to the dollar on Sunday.