From the Liveblog of
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Trump has ‘hyper fixation’ on winning Nobel Peace Prize — report
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Donald Trump has “a hyper fixation” on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, CBS News reports, citing an unnamed aide to the US president-elect.
The interest in the award has reemerged as he seeks to bring the ceasefire and hostage release deal over the finish-line, the aide says.
Maintaining the ceasefire past its first phase will ostensibly boost Trump’s chances further.
His aides reportedly assured hostages families on Saturday that they are committed to seeing the deal through all of its stages, amid speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will try and resume fighting after the first phase in order to maintain his hardline coalition.
Trump aides have also said the US wants to use a Gaza ceasefire to set the groundwork for expanding the Abraham Accords – namely with a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh has demanded the establishment of a timebound, irreversible path to a Palestinian state – something Netanyahu has rejected off hand.
However, the premier appears more susceptible to pressure from the US under Trump, with the latter’s aide Steve Witkoff managing to coax the premier into key compromises necessary for the hostage deal slated to enter place on Sunday, Arab officials told The Times of Israel last week.
The Times of Israel Community.