U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to the Israeli Parliament was briefly interrupted on Monday (October 13, 2025) as two left-wing lawmakers were expelled.

“That was very efficient,” Mr. Trump quipped as the MPs were swiftly removed.

The U.S. President had paused as a Knesset staff member audibly ordered the expulsion of lawmaker Ofer Cassif following an apparent protest.

Protest demanding Palestine’s statehood

During the session, in which Mr. Trump was otherwise warmly received and given multiple standing ovations, Mr. Cassif had brandished a sign.

A photo in his post showed a piece of paper emblazoned: “Recognise Palestine!”

“This is the banner I waved in front of Trump at the Knesset and was subsequently removed from the plenum,” Mr. Cassif posted.

“We didn’t come to disturb, but to demand justice. True peace that will save both peoples of this land from destruction will only come with the end of the occupation and apartheid and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel”, he wrote.

Another leftist, Ayman Odeh, leader of Cassif’s Hadash alliance, was also seen brandishing a page of paper and being removed.

“They kicked me out of the Knesset just for raising the simplest demand, one that the whole international community agrees on: Recognize the State of Palestine! Recognize the simple truth”, Ayman Odeh wrote on X.

He also added, “The amount of hypocrisy in the plenum is unbearable. To crown Netanyahu through flattery the likes of which has never been seen, through an orchestrated group, does not absolve him and his government of the crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, nor of the responsibility for the blood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian victims and thousands of Israeli victims.”

U.S. President Donald Trump departed on Sunday (October 12, 2025) on a high-stakes peace trip to Israel and Egypt, declaring the “war is over” in Gaza despite uncertainty about what will follow a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

Mr. Trump’s lightning visit is designed to celebrate his role in brokering last week’s ceasefire and hostage release deal – but it comes at a precarious time as Israel and Hamas negotiate what comes next.

The 79-year-old President is due to arrive in Israel shortly after the expected release of the hostages by Hamas. He will address parliament before heading to Egypt to host a major peace summit.

“The war is over. Okay? You understand that?” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked if he was confident that the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas was finished.

Speaking before he boarded at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, Mr. Trump added that the visit was going to be a “very special time.”

“Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time. This is a very special event,” said Mr. Trump, holding an umbrella as light rain fell.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and top US military officer Dan Caine were travelling with him on the presidential jet.

Mr. Trump, whose name was chanted by crowds in Israel on Saturday, said the phase one agreement that he announced last week had people “cheering” in both Israel and in Muslim and Arab countries.

“Everybody’s cheering at one time, that’s never happened before. Usually if you have one cheering the other isn’t, the other is the opposite,” Mr. Trump said.

“This is the first time everybody is amazed and they’re thrilled and it’s an honor to be involved,” he said, adding that “we’re going to have an amazing time.”

‘Tired of the fighting’

After arriving in Israel, Mr. Trump is due to meet the families of hostages seized by Hamas in its October 7, 2023 cross-border attack, which left 1,219 people dead, most of them civilians, and triggered Israel’s devastating Gaza campaign.

He will then deliver remarks to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, becoming the fourth U.S. President to do so. He is due to spend less than four hours on Israeli soil.

Editorial |Pause, not peace: On the Hamas-Israel ceasefire agreement 

Mr. Trump will then head to Egypt where he and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a summit of more than 20 world leaders to back his plan to end the Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.

The two-term President has already claimed the Gaza deal as a major personal victory, with his trip to the region clearly aimed at proclaiming his success in freeing hostages held by Hamas.

But Mr. Trump will also be looking to resolve some of the huge uncertainty around the next phases of the Gaza deal and securing a longer-term solution for the Middle East.

Mr. Trump has said he will preside over a “Board of Peace” as part of his 20-part plan, but he has remained vague about how the next steps will play out.

Many of the most crucial issues have yet to be hammered out, ranging from Hamas’s refusal to disarm, and Israel’s failure to pledge a full withdrawal from the devastated territory.

Mr. Trump said only last week that he was confident of peace because “they’re all tired of the fighting.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that Mr. Trump would exert “consistent leverage and consistent pressure” on all parties.