Netanyahu and Trump exchange gifts: a golden souvenir of war from "Bibi, a great leader”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington to meet US President Donald Trump, and the two exchanged gifts.

Netanyahu met Trump with a golden pager and a regular one, referencing the pager attacks in Lebanon that took place in September of 2024.

In return, the US President has given Netanyahu a picture of the two of them with a dedication “to Bibi, a great leader.”

It’s been reported that Trump has referred to the Lebanon attacks as a "great operation."

On September 17th of last year, thousands of explosions took place in Lebanon and Syria. It was soon discovered that the explosions were caused by pagers that were carried by members of Hezbollah, a Lebanese political and militant organization.

The planned attack against Hezbollah is thought to have been carried out by Israel’s Mossad spy agency which worked on the plan for at least five months.

The idea of using pagers was introduced by Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s former chief, who decided to replace the group members' phones with pagers, so they wouldn’t get tracked by Israeli forces.

While pagers, or beepers, are not used as commonly nowadays, they are still used in some sectors, such as medical facilities. Pagers are reliable for a couple of reasons. Users can receive information without having to disclose their own data, and they’re a decent alternative when a WiFi or cellular network is down.

It’s been said that the exploded pagers were brand-new models that Mossad agents were able to fill with explosives before they were delivered to Hezbollah.

The pager attack killed dozens and injured thousands of people, of whom many were innocent bystanders.

This whole situation also raised questions about future security, as it was proved that basically any device, such as a beeper, can be used as an explosive.

It has already been predicted that the said attack will have an impact on North American and European travel, with tightened security checks, especially when it comes to electronic devices.