Trump's Israel Visit: Knesset Speaker Jokes About Teleprompter Following UN Incident

"Your team has checked the teleprompter, and it is working beautifully," Amir Ohana joked as he welcomed former President Trump to Israel's parliament.

The Israeli Speaker of the Knesset made this lighthearted remark during Trump's address to parliament on Monday morning, just hours after Hamas released the final 20 living hostages from Gaza.

Ohana's comment referenced a recent incident at the United Nations General Assembly where Trump had complained about receiving only a "bad teleprompter and bad escalator" from the UN.

"You stand before the people of Israel not as another American president but as a giant of Jewish history," Ohana continued in his warm welcome. "Welcome to Jerusalem. Welcome to the Knesset. We've been longing for this day."

During his earlier address at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump had notably stated, "I don't mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working," adding, "Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble."

Trump arrived in Israel accompanied by his special envoy Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted Trump with exceptional praise, describing him as "the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House," adding that "No American president has ever done more for Israel."

The former president received a red carpet welcome in Tel Aviv on Monday. Following his address to Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Trump's itinerary included traveling to Egypt for a ceremony to formalize the ceasefire agreement.

Before arriving in Israel, Trump expressed optimism about the ceasefire: "The war is over; you understand that. This is going to be a very special time. Everybody's cheering at one time. That's never happened before. It's an honor to be involved - and we're going to have an amazing time."

He added, "Everybody is happy, whether it's Jewish, Muslims, or Arabs. This is the first time they've ever seen that everybody is unified. We are going to Egypt after Israel, and we are going to meet all of the leaders of the very powerful and big countries, and very rich countries, and others, and they're all into this deal."

In Tel Aviv, crowds gathered in support of hostage families erupted in joy and tears as news broke of the first hostage releases. Israel's foreign ministry celebrated the return of the hostages with a series of posts on X, simply stating, "Welcome home."

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Israel is scheduled to release nearly 2,000 prisoners from its jails. Hamas will also return the bodies of 27 hostages who died in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed during a previous Gaza conflict in 2014.

The exchange includes the release of 250 security detainees by Israel, many convicted of killing Israelis, while approximately 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.