Netanyahu accepts invite to Trump’s Board of Peace; Europe formulating common position

Egypt announces participation; Witkoff says Putin expected to join; Sweden and Norway reject invitations; Italy said to believe joining the board would violate its constitution

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, the premier’s office announced Wednesday, as Sweden and Norway became the latest nations to say they would not be joining, and Spain said European leaders were working to consolidate a common position.

The proposed board would be chaired for life by Trump and start by addressing the Gaza conflict before expanding to other wars, with member countries required to pay a $1 billion fee each to earn permanent membership.

Western diplomats say the board could undermine the work of the United Nations.

Netanyahu has previously criticized Washington’s decision to place senior representatives from Turkey and Qatar on the Board of Peace’s operational arm for Gaza, called the Gaza Executive Board, making it initially unclear whether he would want to legitimize that panel’s makeup by joining the Board of Peace.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi had also accepted an invitation for the board.

Egypt “announces its acceptance of the invitation and its commitment to fulfilling the relevant legal and constitutional procedures,” the statement said, praising Trump for his Middle East policies.

“Egypt expresses its support for the Board of Peace’s mission for the second phase of the comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza,” it added.

Israel and Egypt join Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam in accepting.

Invitations to join the board have been addressed to some 60 nations but just a few have so far accepted without reservations.

Adding to concern among Western nations, the Kremlin said this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had also been invited, while Moscow’s ally Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has already accepted an invitation.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was asked Wednesday if Putin was expected to join, and responded: “I think so.”

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Wednesday that European leaders were holding consultations to formulate a common position on the board.

The United Kingdom has previously flagged Trump’s invitations to Putin and Lukashenko as cause for concern, while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that his country “cannot accept” the offer to join “at this stage,” over concerns shared by some European governments that the Board of Peace could undermine the work of the UN, which Trump has accused of not supporting his efforts to end conflicts around the world.

Meanwhile, Corriere della Sera reported that Italy won’t take part in the initiative, citing concern that joining such a group led by a single country’s leader would violate Italy’s constitution.

According to Italy’s constitution, Italy may join international organizations that ensure “peace and justice among nations” only “on equal terms with other states,” a condition incompatible with US primacy on the new board, Corriere said.

On Thursday, Trump is due to preside over a ceremony celebrating the new group in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum.

A source told Reuters that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a rightwing leader who has had warm relations with Trump, was unlikely to go to Davos. The Italian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Norway’s government said Wednesday that it also would not join the board initiated by Trump, who has vented his frustration at the Nordic country after being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The American proposal raises a number of questions” requiring “further dialogue with the United States,” State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner said in a statement.

“Norway will therefore not join the proposed arrangements for the Board of Peace, and will therefore not attend a signing ceremony in Davos,” Thoner said. Norway would continue its close cooperation with the US, he added.

“For Norway, it is important how this proposal is linked to established structures as the UN, and to our international commitments,” Thoner said.

The government representative noted that Norway shared Trump’s “goal of lasting peace in Ukraine, Gaza and in other situations.”

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters in Davos that his country will also not participate in the initiative with the text presented so far.

The Board of Peace was initially presented as a body that would exclusively oversee the postwar management of Gaza, and, in November, the UN Security Council voted to give it a two-year mandate to do so.

But its charter, obtained by The Times of Israel, makes no mention of Gaza and appears to take a swipe at the UN, saying that the new board should have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”

The document was attached to invitations to join the board that were sent to dozens of world leaders on Friday.

When asked by a reporter on Tuesday if the board should replace the United Nations, Trump said: “It might.”