Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid hailed President Donald Trump in remarks to the Knesset and said the US leader must be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize next year.
“When you were elected, you declared that you would be ‘the President of Peace.’ You have kept your word,” Lapid said alongside Trump. “The fact that you were not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a grave mistake by the committee – but they will have no choice, Mr. President. They will have to award it to you next year.”
Lapid said Trump had accomplished the “unimaginable,” but now Israel needs to “take responsibility” for next steps.
He added that Israel’s “neighbors must understand one more thing about us – we are not going anywhere,” saying, “The Middle East is our home. We are here to stay,” he said.
“We call upon all the nations of the Islamic world, on all our neighbors: Saudi Arabia, Syria, others: We are here to stay. We can do great things together. Come talk to us,” he continued.
“Mr. President, you are the one who can make it happen – as you did with the historic Abraham Accords,” Lapid told Trump. “You can be the one to bring the next wave of peace. The people of Israel support this. They want this. We are ready.”
He told the US president that he and his team, in Egypt later on Monday, could “forge a regional alliance that will change not only the Middle East – but the entire world.”
Lapid also denounced those “who demonstrated against Israel these past two years,” saying they “were deceived.”