Netanyahu says Donald Trump will receive Israel prize as pair hold press conference at Mar-a-Lago – live

Asked about Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and whether settler violence is undermining the peace process, Trump says he and Netanyahu “don’t agree on the West Bank 100%, but we’ll come to a conclusion on the West Bank”.

“He will do the right thing,” he adds, gesturing towards Netanyahu.

Trump says they talked about Hamas and disarmament.

Hamas “will be given a very short period to disarm”, he says, “and we’ll see how that works out.”

But if they don’t disarm – as they agreed to do, they agreed to it – then there’ll be hell to pay for them.

And we don’t want that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the prize is the state of Israel’s highest civilian honor and has been awarded on rare occasion to non-Israeli citizens before.

The only exception is the prize for “special contribution towards the Jewish people,” which, based on what Netanyahu just said, will justify Trump receiving the award.

Netanyahu says they’re awarding the Israel prize to Donald Trump, adding that this was formally announced over lunch, “for his tremendous contributions to Israel and the Jewish people”.

Trump and Netanyahu are now speaking to the media following their meeting in Mar-a-Lago.

Trump says they “came to a lot of conclusions”.

Netanyahu thanks Trump again for being such a good friend to Israel.

As we reported earlier, Isaac Herzog’s office was quick to challenge Donald Trump’s assertion that the Israeli president had told him a pardon for PM Benjamin Netanyahu was “on its way”.

Reuters reports that, asked about the US president’s remarks, Herzog’s office said he had not had any conversations with Trump since a pardon request was submitted several weeks ago.

Herzog’s office said he had spoken to a representative for Trump then and it was explained that any decision would be made in accordance with established procedures.

Netanyahu, Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime, denies bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 indictment.

His own request for a pardon, submitted on 30 November, argued that frequent court hearings impair his ability to govern and that clemency serves the national interest.

The request drew fierce criticism from Netanyahu’s opponents, who said that pardoning him mid-trial would be a total breach of the rule of law.

According to Israeli law, the president has authority to pardon convicts. But there is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.

Netanyahu’s pardon quest has been boosted by Trump, a close ally who wrote a formal letter to Herzog in November urging him to grant clemency and describing the case as “political, unjustified prosecution”.

Further to our earlier report on Trump’s comments on Venezuela, we have some more details of his quotes.

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said.

“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area … it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”

It was not immediately clear what target was hit nor which part of the US government acted.

Asked if the CIA had carried out the attack, Trump said: “I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don’t want to say who it was.”

The US and Israeli delegations seated opposite each other in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

On Trump’s side is secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth; White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine, White House deputy chiefs of staff Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino, envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner.

Trump told reporters before they were ushered out of the room:

We made a lot of progress already. We had about a five-minute meeting, and we’ve already settled about three of the difficulties.

Trump also says he spoke to Israeli president Isaac Herzog, who told him that a pardon for Benjamin Netanyahu was “on its way.”

He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon? I spoke to the president ... he tells me it’s on its way.

The New York Times reported that Herzog’s office quickly denied that any decision had been made and said a decision was weeks away, at a minimum.

Netanyahu says of his relationship with Trump:

We’ve never had a friend by President Trump in the White House.

It’s not even close. And I think you can judge that by the not merely by the frequency of our meetings, but by the content and the intensity.

I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States, and I’ll say leading the free world, at this time.

I think it’s not merely Israel’s great fortune. I think it’s the world’s great fortune.

Asked about Russia’s accusation that Ukraine tried to attack Vladimir Putin’s residence in northern Russia, which Kyiv has denied, Trump says:

I don’t like it. It’s not good. I heard about it this morning … President Putin told me about it … He said he was attacked, it’s no good.

He adds:

It’s one thing to be offensive, because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that … I was very angry about it.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenksyy has described the claim as “typical Russian lies”, and said Moscow was using “dangerous statements” to undermine “diplomatic efforts” with the US to end its invasion of his country.

Asked about Ran Gvili, the last hostage still inside Gaza after being taken captive by Hamas and whose parents have accompanied Netanyahu to Florida to meet Trump, the US president says:

We’re doing everything we can to get his body back.