Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had gifted US President Donald Trump a golden pager in February 2025. Now, the gift is back in focus with many online claiming it was a ‘veiled threat’.
This comes amid the US joining Israel in strikes against Iran, which has effectively drawn them into the battle in the Middle East. The joint strikes took out Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and US interests in the region have come under attack from Iran since then. Many of Trump’s critics have questioned the need to join Israel in the attack, even as US troops have lost their lives since the war begun.
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Conservative commentator and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson also raised questions. “No two countries have the same priorities. That’s why it should be illegal to yoke our military to a foreign power in war,” he said on X.
Many have begun to claim that the US joined Israel in the attacks due to the golden pager which Netanyahu gave Trump. These social media profiles have speculated that the pager was not a gift but a threat from one world leader to another.
Golden pager a gift or threat? Social media speculates
Several profiles online claimed that the golden pager gifted to Trump was actually a threat.
“The Golden Pager was a threat from Netanyahu to President Trump. It was clear,” one replied to Carlson’s post.
Another added, “Remember the golden pager? Pretty tasteless gift from a “great friend” & “ally”. Open your eyes. Netanyahu’s Threat to Trump.”
Yet another said “I think the golden pager Netanyahu gave President Trump was a veiled threat. I didn’t at the time but after the initial comments made by Rubio about hitting Iran for Israel then the back pedaling and all the Israel rhetoric it doesn’t seem like it was merely a gift.”
Carlson’s own news network questioned whether it was a threat and had podcaster Bret Weinstein weigh in.
“What am I to make of the fact that you have these exploding pagers used to kill terrorists, obviously, that’s not the only people who were killed, but nonetheless, that was their purpose, and then one is delivered to Trump?,” he said in the video that was shared on X.
However, despite the claims made, there is nothing to indicate that the golden pager was or is a threat. It was gifted to Trump when the world leaders met for the first time during the former’s second term.
The pager was a reference to Israel’s ‘The Grim Reaper’ operation, which was a series of pager blasts targeting the Hezbollah network, amid their ongoing conflict with Hamas at the time. The operation took place in September 2024.
Trump has justified Operation Epic Fury with a variety of reasons. He’s claimed it was a preemptive strike against ‘imminent threat’ of attack from Iran, and that the attacks were meant to ensure Iran never had a nuclear weapon.