Fretterman has espoused pro-Israeli views during his career in US politics [Getty/file photo]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted US Senator John Fetterman a silver-plated pager, in celebration of the deadly walkie-talkie explosions orchestrated across Lebanon in September, targeting suspected Hezbollah operatives.
The gift exchange occurred during Fetterman’s visit to Israel this week, where he met Netanyahu, and his wife Sara.
In a video shared by the prime minister’s office, Fetterman said that he “loved” the operation in which Israel launched a coordinated attack against the Lebanese group, killing and injuring thousands of its members as well as children and other civilians.
The attack was personally approved by Netanyahu several weeks before it took place.
“What can I give a man who has everything? How about giving him a beeper?” Netanyahu said during the exchange, before handing the pager.
“This is a silver-plated beeper. The real beeper is, like, one-tenth the weight. It’s nothing, but it changes history.”
“Oh I love it. When that story broke, I was like, I love it, I love it.  And now, it’s like, thank you for this, Fetterman told Netanyahu in his Jerusalem office.
Fetterman initially gifted the Israeli PM a framed news article from Philadelphia about his brother, Israeli soldier Yoni Netanyahu, The Times of Israel said. The prime minister lived in the US city during his youth.
The attack began the sudden escalation of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon following nearly a year of cross-border fire.
Israel bombed much of the country’s south and several Beirut suburbs, as well as other cities, displacing over a million Lebanese and causing billions of dollars of damage to the country’s infrastructure. It also went on to launch a ground invasion Lebanon.
More than 4,000 Lebanese were killed in the attacks, before a truce was declared on 27 November. Despite an agreement entailing the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the country’s south, Israel has remained stationed in five “strategic” positions along the border.
Lebanon also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire at least 1,100 times, which has resulted in the killing of at least 87 people during this period.
Fetterman has expressed staunch pro-Israeli views during his political career, with his support for Israel growing significantly stronger since the launch of the deadly war in Gaza.
The Democratic senator from Pennsylvania first visited in Israel in June last year, where he met with Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and current Defence Minister Israel Katz, who was then serving as the country’s foreign minister.
He also met with then-US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and met with captives’ families.
Over the years, Fetterman has encouraged US military aid to its ally and supported what he called the country’s right to “self-defence”. He has a track record of criticisng Democrats who have voted against US policies favouring Israel, including funding of the Iron Dome missile defence system, according to the Jewish Insider.
Amid the onset of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, Fetterman had waved and draped himself with the Israeli flag when confronted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, and hung images of Israeli captives in his office.
He has also criticised TikTok for pushing a “warped and inaccurate perception” the war in Gaza, which has killed over 61,000 Palestinians.
He slammed South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, stating that the country should “focus on its own continent” instead.
In February, Netanyahu similarly gifted US President Donald Trump with a gold-plated pager in a reference to the same deadly attack in Lebanon, during a visit to Washington.
Trump, like Fetterman, praised the operation, calling it “great”.
