Very relevant to Europe, as Hungary will join and Italy is also very likely to do so (Meloni today: "I think Italy can play a leading role.").
Key phrase in this article"If [leaders of the 60 countries invited] "take part in the initiative, they will be personally responsible for participating in the destruction of the old world order."
Full article:
Dilemma of world leaders: To join or not
Liza Rozovsky, Haaretz, 18 January 2026
On the night between Friday and Saturday, with a timing that showed total indifference toward Israel and its prime minister’s schedule, the White House released the composition of the executive board of the Board of Peace it has established, which is meant to manage the Gaza Strip. On Saturday night, an unusual response came from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. For the first time, Israel’s prime minister declared that his position and that of his friend and patron Donald Trump are separated not by insignificant cracks but by an abyss. This was an official protest, a public and vociferous one, against the composition of the Board’s executive body. This body includes Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and none other than the senior adviser to Qatar’s prime minister, Ali al-Thawadi, who witnessed Netanyahu’s humiliation in the Oval Office last year, when he had to apologize to al-Thawadi’s boss, Mohammed al-Thani.
According to sources familiar with the details, Netanyahu was well aware of the bitter pill he would have to swallow. The composition of the executive board was coordinated with him. Moreover, Washington made clear its intent to declare a transition to Phase 2 of the cease-fire in Gaza and to the administration’s tight ties with Turkey and Qatar. Everything was reported and declared, nothing was concealed. And yet, it appears that the White House’s move embarrassed Netanyahu, catching him unprepared, both mentally and in terms of the media. This was a moment in which the absence of Ron Dermer, his White House whisperer, was greatly felt.
At the same time, it turned out, as reported in Haaretz, that Gaza is in fact just a speck – or a cornerstone – in the colossal edifice Trump is trying to erect: a coalition of world notables that will answer to him and handle problems and conflicts across the globe in its own way. As has been blatantly hinted in a charter document disseminated to leaders who were invited, this new way will be totally different than the bad way conflicts and problems around the world have been dealt with up to now.
It’s hard to argue with the fact that the last few decades, and mainly the last four years, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have proved that the regulations-based world order that was constructed after World War II has developed cracks. “Cracks” may be too weak a term. This edifice, which has been rattled repeatedly, is now like a ruin after a bombing raid, one which barely offers a few displaced people some refuge from the storm raging outside or from other tremors. Trump, of one mind with his emissaries and confidants, is now determined to flatten this edifice for good. Gaza as a parable.
The Board of Peace’s founding document includes some phrases indicating that it will operate according to international law, but when it comes to an administration that has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court and its judges, and to a president who has not hesitated to take control of a Nobel Prize that’s not his, it’s clear that this is not even lip service, but an empty turn of phrase devoid of any meaning. The only law expected to prevail in the Board of Peace will be the wish of its chairman, Donald Trump.
The question now is which of the 60 countries whose leaders have been invited to join the board – according to a few sources that have talked with Haaretz – will indeed accept the invitation. Their leaders face a clear dilemma. On one hand, if they take part in the initiative, they will be personally responsible for participating in the destruction of the old world order. Moreover, they will in fact agree to subjugate the new world to Trump and his whims. Any decision taken by the Board of Peace and even its agenda will be subject to the ratification of its chairman. If he wishes to, he could set up other bodies that are subordinate to the board. He will be able to “fire” members of the board or extend their tenure. Those pulling the purse strings will also be pulling the board’s strings. This has been stated openly. Anyone contributing $1 billion to the board’s needs will have their tenure extended automatically.
Such a move means a high risk to the image of Western leaders. For countries belonging to the “global South,” which enjoy, even if only ostensibly, some equality with large and powerful states at the UN General Assembly, the attempt to construct a “competing UN” is akin to sawing off the branch on which they sit. Furthermore, at least for now, the U.S. is still a democracy. According to its constitution, the president is expected to retire after two terms in office. What will Trump’s megalomaniac Board of Peace be worth once he stops leading the strongest country in the world?
On the other hand, it’s reasonable to assume that there are some countries that will not be able to or want to refuse Trump’s offer. Examples of such countries are the three mediators who are guarantors of the agreement between Israel and Hamas – Turkey, Qatar and Egypt,each one for its own reasons, but mainly because none of them will want to relinquish having maximal influence on the situation in Gaza and on the conflict in the Middle East. Their official representatives, as well as that of the United Arab Emirates, are already on the Gaza Executive Board, but that may not be enough. On the other hand, there are those who assume that Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was declared by Trump as the possible first member of the executive board, will forgo the pleasure.
Western states will also have to decide which is more important: respect (for themselves and the law), and possibly some elusive legacy, or short-term impact. Britain and France will in practice have to relinquish their heft at the UN Security Council if they join Trump’s board. But what in fact does their veto right give them in an institution that cannot pass any significant resolution due to the paralyzing balance with Russia and China? In any case, as of the time of writing there was no clear information as to whether France was even invited to join the board. Britain was invited, according to some sources, and, according to reports in The Times, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to join. A Western source who spoke to Haaretz also predicted that if Starmer was invited, he would join.
The board’s charter contains an interesting clause, according to which no qualifications can be made with regard to the document. In simple Trumpese, invitees to the board can take it or leave it. They can make some additions to the document with the approval of a supermajority and with Trump’s ratification but only after they agree to join. It’s possible that the establishment of the board was announced on the eve of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in an attempt to increase pressure on the invitees. They will all be locked in one room in the Swiss Alps, where they will feel that they have to decide, the sooner the better.
Some sources say that Trump did not hesitate to invite to the board leaders of countries which are not known to be that influential, such as Salvador and Paraguay.
The one not invited yet is Benjamin Netanyahu. The move – which began on Wednesday with Steve Witkoff’s announcement of a technocratic committee, continued on Thursday with a tweet by Trump about the Board of Peace and culminated in the White House’s official declaration on the night between Friday and Saturday – garnered sweeping and almost enthusiastic support by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, as well as other Palestinian factions. Netanyahu let drop some statement about a “declarative move” on Wednesday. He later remained silent for three days.
On Saturday night he was already protesting. It seems that the role of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (and by implication that of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio) in this show is mainly ceremonial. Netanyahu’s protest, delivered through Sa’ar, was meant to minimize the event and not turn it into a head-on collision with Trump. Whether this is an attempt to rebuild Gaza or an attempt to disrupt the global order, Trump’s train is rushing ahead and all Netanyahu can do is wave from the platform.
