Benjamin Netanyahu

The world is in awe of the immense bravery of Iran's citizens.

That's how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started his cabinet meeting, as Israelis keep close tabs on the protests.

We all hope the Persian nation will soon be liberated from the yoke of tyranny, Netanyahu says.

condemning the killing of peaceful protesters.

Over the weekend, he spoke about the Iran protests with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Iranian authorities have accused the U.S.

and Israel of fomenting unrest.

They describe the protesters as terrorists and rioters.

The protests began two weeks ago against the crumbling Iranian economy.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

Well, President Trump has broken so many conventions to the surprise of people, and then they figure out, oh, well, maybe, you know, he was right after all.

So we decided to break a convention, too, or create a new one.

And that is to award the Israel Prize, which in almost our 80 years, we've never awarded it to a non-Israeli.

And we're going to award it this year to President Trump.

I don't know what they're talking about.

My direction is the exact opposite.

You know, when I first became prime minister in 1996, I went to the U.S.

Congress and we were receiving financial aid and military aid.

And I said, first thing is, you know, we're going to build a high tech free market capitalist economy.

We don't need the financial aid.