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Netanyahu nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lord David Trimble nominated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed for the Nobel Peace Prize, Netanyahu’s office announced on Tuesday.

Lord Trimble, who served as the First Minister of Northern Ireland, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 due to his commitments to peacefully solving the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Because Lord Trimble is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Netanyahu and bin Zayed’s nominations must be discussed and debated by the official Nobel Committee.

In 2010, Netanyahu appointed Trimble to sit on the Turkel commission, which investigated Israel’s actions against the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, which was part of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.”

The flotilla was intended to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli naval commandos intercepted the ship. Eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish American were killed onboard in clashes with Israeli forces.

The commission found no evidence of any wrongdoing by Israel.

The landmark U.S.-brokered peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates marked the first time the Jewish state had entered into a peace agreement with an Arab nation in nearly three decades.

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The decision sparked talk of normalization with Israel throughout the region, with Bahrain also establishing ties with Israel and signing peace accords in a trilateral ceremony that included the UAE and Israel, held at the White House this September.

The nomination by Lord Trimble marks the third occasion that an Israeli prime mMinister has been nominated for the prize due to peace-making efforts with the Jewish state’s neighbors.

The 1979 peace deal between Egypt and Israel – two previously warring nations – led to Nobel Peace prizes for then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

In 1994, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, respectively prime minister and foreign minister at the time, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat, for their work on the Oslo Accords.