Bizarre gift Netanyahu hands John Fetterman that’s left liberals raging: ‘I can’t believe this!’

Benjamin Netanyahu gifted a ‘silver-plated beeper’ to Senator John Fetterman during his visit to Israel this week.

Israel’s Prime Minister presented Fetterman with the bizarre gift during an awkward exchange in his office in Jerusalem.

In an apparent move to double down on his support for Israel, Fetterman presented Netanyahu with a framed article from a Philadelphia newspaper that memorialized the PM’s brother, an Israeli soldier who was killed in 1976 during an Israeli raid in Uganda.

In return, the Israeli leader offered Fetterman a gift of his own, jokingly asking: ‘What can I give a man who has everything? How about giving him a beeper?’

‘This is a silver-plated beeper. The real beeper is, like, one-tenth the weight,’ Netanyahu said as he handed the pager to the laughing senator. ‘It’s nothing, but it changes history.’

The gift is an apparent reference to the Israel’s operation in Lebanon last September that saw the military detonate pagers that were used by members of Hezbollah. The explosive attack left 42 people dead and thousands injured.

Netanyahu presented a golden pager to President Donald Trump in February when the pair met at the White House, but some have questioned why he would give this symbolic gift to a junior member of the senate.

Fetterman, however, has repeatedly voiced his support for Israel, despite his Democratic Party being highly critical of the offensive in Gaza.

Video of the exchange, posted online yesterday, shows how Fetterman laughed as Netanyahu presented him with the gift.

He appeared to admire the device before saying, ‘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 said again as he shook the prime minister’s hand.

Fetterman on Tuesday doubled down his support for Israel after it shattered the tenuous ceasefire with Hamas by bombarding Gaza with air strikes.

‘Hamas does not want peace. I unapologetically, 100% stand with Israel, and demand the release of all remaining hostages,’ he tweeted, noting that he was ‘sending this from Israel’.

But his message and display of support for Netanyhu’s troops has prompted backlash from liberals who have branded him the ‘most despicable scum in Congress’.

‘I can’t believe this man once conned progressives into campaigning for him and defending him,’ one X user said of Fetterman. ‘Forget pro Israel, he’s pro Netanyahu, who just massacred over 100 kids to avoid going to court for his trial. Sick stuff.’

‘This despicable ghoul is a US senator. What a joke!’ echoed another. 

‘OMG. To be this cruel and this tacky all at the same time,’ one user penned. 

Another wrote: ‘Who doesn’t enjoy a gift from a criminal thug murderer?’ 

‘Proud of their terrorism. Sickos of the highest degree,’ said another. 

One added: ‘Absolutely no way this is real… right???’ 

‘Why is the senator from Pennsylvania hanging out in Israel? And who’s paying for it?’ another asked. 

Fetterman has broken with his party’s liberal wing several times, including maintaining his staunch support for Israel and supporting the Laken Riley Act focused on illegal immigrants. 

The outspoken senator also made headlines earlier this month when he criticized his party’s response to Trump’s address to Congress.

Democrats faced backlash for several stunts and protests during the address, including refusing to stand and clap for a young cancer survivor who was honored by Trump, while one congressman was even booted from the chamber for his antics. 

‘I don’t think that was the best look for our party last night,’ Fetterman said when asked by Fox News for his reaction to how Democrats behaved during the speech. 

Fetterman also took to X to share a more hostile take on his party’s performance, which be branded a ‘sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.’ 

‘It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,’ he said as he shared a Politico article that mocked Democrats who held up protest signs during the speech as ‘giving bingo.’ 

‘We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to — and it may not be the winning message,’ Fetterman posted. 

Despite suffering health issues during his run for the senate in 2022, including having a stroke that impaired his speech, and his apparent break from his party, Fetterman has been floated by some as a potential Democtratic presidential candidate in 2028.

Fetterman was floated as a potential candidate as Democrats begin their search for a standard bearer to lead them into the 2028 election, following Kamala Harris’ resounding defeat in November.

Comedian Bill Maher even called for him to run, saying ‘Democrats need to find their Trump.’ 

Fetterman was previously asked about his White House ambitions in December 2023, to which he told Politico that he was ‘not thinking about 2028’.

Despite losing in a landslide to Trump, Harris surprisingly topped a post-election poll among Democrats, where she led the field with 41 per cent of the vote, according to a Puck News/Echelon Insights survey. 

The rest of the pack combined – 13 Democratic politicians who all scored in the single digits – garnered 43 per cent, with 16 per cent of those surveyed saying they were ‘unsure’ to the question of who they would vote for if a party primary were held now.