The Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday confirmed reports that Benjamin Netanyahu gave a golden pager as a gift to US President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House on Tuesday, a reference to the clandestine operation that decimated the Hezbollah terror group.
The gift “symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war and the starting point for breaking the will of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The operation “expresses the power, technological superiority and cunning of Israel against its enemies,” according to the PMO.
The golden pager displayed text that read: “Press with both hands,” and was given to Trump on a trophy-style display with a placard saying: “To President Donald J. Trump, our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“That was a great operation,” Trump responded, according to Channel 12 news.
In return, Trump reportedly gave Netanyahu a photo of the two of them from the visit, with the dedication “To Bibi, a great leader.”
A golden pager gifted to US President Donald Trump by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at the White House on February 4, 2025. (Courtesy, PMO)
On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah across Lebanon suddenly exploded, killing dozens of operatives and maiming thousands, marking the beginning of Israel’s escalation against the terror group, after almost a year of persistent rocket fire that displaced some 60,000 residents of the north.
A day later, hundreds of walkie-talkies also blew up, killing and injuring scores more.
The attacks, swiftly attributed to Israel, came as Israel began to step up a counter-offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which began striking Israel almost immediately after the allied Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, September 17, 2024. (AP/Bassam Masri)
The pager and radio attacks were the result of a highly sophisticated Israeli intelligence operation years in the making in which Hezbollah was fooled into purchasing the compromised devices.
Israel invaded Lebanon 10 days after the targeted explosions, beginning with airstrikes in which most of Hezbollah’s leaders, including Nasrallah, were killed. By the end of November, a battered Hezbollah signed a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
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