Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday posted an AI-generated image of US President Donald Trump winning the Nobel Peace Prize as the premier stands at his side, after Israel and Hamas agreed to a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal based on Trump’s proposal.
The image, posted to Netanyahu’s official English-language X account, shows Trump lifting his hands as he wears an oversized medal and is showered in confetti as a cheering crowd waves Israeli flags. The US president stands under a banner reading “peace through strength,” and in front of a partially hidden emblem that resembles Israel’s official seal.
“Give [Donald Trump] the Nobel Peace Prize — he deserves it,” read a caption over the picture.
The families of hostages have also urged the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award Trump the prize, which is set to be announced Friday.
Trump has repeatedly said that he deserves the prize for what he states has been his role in settling seven conflicts, not including the Gaza war: Israel-Iran, Cambodia-Thailand, Kosovo-Serbia, Congo-Rwanda, Pakistan-India, Egypt-Ethiopia and Armenia-Azerbaijan.
Despite his efforts, The Telegraph reported on Thursday that Trump is unlikely to be awarded the Nobel but has enjoyed a surge of support that lifted his odds of winning the prize from 2 percent to 5% on betting site Polymarket.
The “heavy favorite” to win, the outlet said, was Emergency Response Rooms, which has provided humanitarian aid to millions of people caught up in the civil war in Sudan. The next favorites were Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian pro-democracy activist Alexei Navalny; Doctors Without Borders, which provides medical services in conflict zones, including Gaza; and the International Court of Justice, which is adjudicating a case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, which Israel vehemently denies.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee could theoretically choose at the last minute to award Trump the peace prize, but that would in practice be tricky, and Trump’s chances of winning could also be undercut by his decisions to cut US foreign aid and embark on global trade wars, according to sources familiar with the award process who spoke to The Telegraph.
Since 2018, Trump has been nominated for the prestigious prize by several individuals in the United States and politicians abroad, including for his part in brokering the 2020 Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and four Arab nations.
Some observers have suggested that Trump was moving swiftly to begin implementing his Gaza ceasefire-hostage proposal in part to strengthen his chances ahead of this year’s award.
The proposal’s first phase, which Israel and Hamas agreed to early Thursday, requires the terror group to release all the remaining 48 hostages within 72 hours, and the IDF to stage an initial withdrawal from Gaza, where war was sparked following Hamas’s massacre and hostage-taking in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.