Education Minister Yoav Kisch informed US President Donald Trump via phone call on Monday that he would be granting him the Israel Prize, considered the country’s highest honor.

Kisch spoke with Trump during the president’s meeting in Florida with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the Israeli delegation.

“It is my great and distinct honor to inform you that the Israel Prize committee… has reached a historical decision to award you the Israel Prize, in the category ‘special contribution to the Jewish people,'” Kisch told Trump as Netanyahu held up a phone toward the US president at the table.

Kisch claimed that the honor marks the first time since the founding of the state that the prize is being awarded to a non-Israeli citizen, in a “category created to recognize individuals whose actions have left an exceptional and enduring impact on the Jewish people in Israel and throughout the world.”

However, the 1991 Israel Prize was awarded to non-citizen Zubin Mehta, an Indian conductor who directed the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for many years.

Responding to Kisch, Trump said that it was a “great honor, really amazing being the first one outside of Israel, it’s really something.”

The education minister invited Trump to accept the award in person in Jerusalem on Independence Day in April 2026.

Trump did not directly accept the invitation, but he told Kisch that “I look forward to meeting you,” indicating that he is likely to attend.

Kisch thanked Trump for his “significant and consistent efforts on behalf of the Jewish people in the State of Israel,” citing among his “many contributions” his fight against antisemitism; efforts to return the........

© The Times of Israel