Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) a “silver-plated beeper” this week in reference to Israel’s 2024 explosive pager attack in Lebanon which killed 42 people and injured thousands of others.
In a video posted to social media on Wednesday, Netanyahu could be seen handing Fetterman a silver-plated beeper as the senator laughed.
“This is a silver-plated beeper. The real beeper is like one-tenth the weight,” said Netanyahu. “It’s nothing, but it changes history.”
Fetterman admired the pager before responding, “You know, when that story– when that story broke, I was like, ‘Oh I love it. I love it,’ and now it’s like, thank you for this.”
“Thank you,” he continued, as he shook Netanyahu’s hand.
Netanyahu previously gifted a golden pager to President Donald Trump in February during a meeting at the White House.
“That was a great operation,” replied Trump, who gave Netanyahu a signed photo of the two of them together in return.
In September 2024, Israel detonated thousands of booby-trapped pagers in Lebanon as part of an attack intended to take out members of the group Hezbollah.
While at least 10 members of Hezbollah were reportedly killed by the exploding pagers, the attack also killed 12 civilians and injured thousands more.
Two children – an eight-year-old girl and a 11-year-old boy – were reportedly among those killed in the Israeli attack.
