Israeli Nobel winner asked to nominate Netanyahu for peace prize
Robert Aumann: He deserves it, but I can’t
By GIL HOFFMANPRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about the Israel-UAE peace accords, in Jerusalem last month. (photo credit: DEBBIE HILL/REUTERS)
The Young Likud group wrote Israeli Nobel Prize winner Robert Israel Aumann on Monday, asking him to nominate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, due to his peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.The group wrote Aumann, who won the Nobel for economics in 2005, because previous Nobel winners can nominate candidates for the prize and because he is known for his right-wing political views.“We in the Young Likud believe it would be fitting for the prime minister to receive the recognition he deserves for working hard to achieve regional peace and create a new Middle East,” Young Likud chairman Moshiko Passal wrote Aumann.Aumann told The Jerusalem Post he received the letter and considered it “a fine idea.”“I would be delighted to see Netanyahu receive the prize together with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the same way Menachem Begin won the prize together with Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat,” Aumann said.But Aumann said Passal was mistaken about the rules. He said a Nobel laureate can only recommend people in the category in which they received the prize.“Netanyahu hasn’t done badly in practical economics, but that’s not what they give the prize for,” he said. “They could ask [former Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat but he is dead already. They can ask [former US President Barack] Obama. Obama got the prize. I don’t know why.”US President Donald Trump was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in reaching the agreement between Israel and the UAE. Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian parliament and head of the Norwegian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, submitted the nomination.Tamar Beeri contributed to this report.
