If stopping the worst state sponsor of terrorism from acquiring nuclear weapons and then ending a war in the Middle East isn’t worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, then what is?
Benjamin Netanyahu nominates President Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
President Donald Trump is the last person the Norwegian Nobel Committee would honor with its Peace Prize. Yet, it should.
Trump has helped end an escalating war between Israel and Iran, a conflict that easily could have engulfed the entire Middle East, with a single military strike. Now, he is pressing for a lengthy ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as a bridge to a more permanent peace. He’s also worked, admittedly without success so far, to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. And he helped settle escalating tensions between Pakistan and India this spring.
If Trump isn’t a peacemaker, then who is?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump on Monday, July 7, that he’s nominating the president for the peace prize for his efforts in the Middle East. Those efforts include helping in 2020 to forge the Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic ties between Israel and Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump’s Nobel nomination deserves serious consideration
Trump has been nominated before for the Nobel Peace Prize, but this time it should be taken far more seriously. The progress that he helped to orchestrate in recent weeks is extraordinary, including the successful mission to stop Iran’s rush to build nuclear weapons followed by a still-intact ceasefire between Israel and Iran. History shows us just how incredible those achievements are in keeping the world safe.
At the White House on Monday, Netanyahu told Trump that the president is “forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other.”
That is undoubtedly true. But Trump’s critics, including much of the mainstream media, will never admit it.
In 2024, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”
I’d say that Trump, by heading off a nuclear-armed Iran, achieved that mission tenfold in June.
And Trump’s Iran-Israel ceasefire did not seem possible given the Iranian government’s close ties to terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet, Trump did it, and that also is worthy of recognition.
Trump’s work to secure peace measures up with other presidents’ efforts
It would not be unprecedented for an American president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Barack Obama won the award in 2009, before he had completed the first year of his first term. Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the prize in 1906 for his role in mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter were awarded the prize as well.
Trump’s achievements rival those of the past presidents who won the award.
Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on conservative values, family and religion from columnist Nicole Russell. Get it delivered to your inbox.
Trump’s critics would melt into puddles of outrage, of course, if it were ever to happen. But I have a question for them: If stopping the worst state sponsor of terrorism from acquiring nuclear weapons and then ending a war in the Middle East isn’t worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, then what is?
Peace through strength is more than a slogan. It’s an idea that has prevented more horrific wars than we will ever know.
Donald Trump has shown he not only understands that idea but also will act on it. The Norwegian Nobel Committee should as well.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.