Netanyahu, UAE Crown Prince nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed have been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by Lord David Trimble of Northern Ireland for their path-breaking peace deal that opened the door for Israel to normalize ties with its Arab neighbors.

The Prime Minister’s Office reported Tuesday on the nomination, noting that Trimble was a recipient of the prize in 1998 for his efforts to resolve the conflict in Northern Ireland.

“Pursuant to the rules of the Nobel Prize Committee, since Lord Trimble is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, his decision to submit Prime Minister Netanyahu’s candidacy will lead the committee to discuss the issue,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

US President Donald Trump, who brokered the deal, was not nominated by Trimble, but his name had been put forward separately, on at least on three occasions, in September, for the Israeli-UAE deal.

Prior to Trimble’s nomination, Netanyahu’s name had already been submitted at least twice for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

In September Netanyahu was nominated by Italian lawmaker Paolo Grimoldi and then by Finish parliamentarian Vilhelm Junilla. The latter nomination also included Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The Israel-UAE deal ratified in October is only the third between Israel and an Arab state, followed by another with Bahrain that was ratified this month.

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The winner, or winners of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, will be announced in October in Oslo. This year’s prize was awarded to the UN World Food Program. Of the 311 nominations, 211 were for people and 107 for organizations.

Deliberations over determining the winners are mostly secret, and a final decision is taken by a five-member committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament.

If Netanyahu were to be awarded the prize, he would be the fourth Israeli recipient. In 1978, then-prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat were given the prize for the Israeli-Egypt peace deal, which was formalized in 1979. It was the first agreement between Israel and its most powerful historical enemy since statehood in 1948.

Former US president Jimmy Carter, who like Trump, was the deal-broker, was also not given the prize, although he did receive it in 2002 for his decades-long of work to resolve international conflicts and to advance democracy.

King Hussein of Jordan, who signed the second peace deal with Israel in 1994, also did not receive a prize.

In 1994, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, foreign minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accord. The deal, and the subsequent one signed in 1995, did not lead to their intended objective of a final status agreement to create a two-state resolution to the conflict.