'The dynamic is very different than the last administration'

Despite concerns, PM’s reliance on Trump left him no choice but to join Board of Peace

Israeli official tells ToI that Jerusalem in principle supports US-led Gaza oversight panel, but has major qualms with makeup of board that it ‘isn’t well positioned’ to address

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reliance on US President Donald Trump left the Israeli premier with little choice but to accept an invitation to join the Board of Peace, despite significant qualms regarding the makeup of the panel’s Gaza Executive Board, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Thursday.

The official clarified that in principle Israel backs the idea of Trump’s Board of Peace, which is framed as a potential rival to the United Nations, an international body that Jerusalem has long argued is disproportionately focused on criticizing the Jewish state.

However, the Israeli official said there is significant opposition in Jerusalem to Washington’s decision to appoint senior officials from Turkey and Qatar to the Gaza Executive Board, an arm of the Board of Peace which is poised to play a much greater role in the oversight of postwar Gaza. The Board of Peace, made up of state or government leaders, will likely only meet a handful of times each year.

Israel “wasn’t well-positioned” to push back on the Gaza Executive Board’s makeup, the Israeli official said, as many of Jerusalem’s policies in the region rely on support from the US, which crafted the key committee.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official acknowledged that Israel has doubled down on its dependence on the US at a time when many other countries are looking to diversify their alliances.

This has allowed Netanyahu to enjoy a unique relationship with Trump, including a world-leading six one-on-one meetings with the US president since the latter returned to office. A seventh is reportedly in store for next month.

But that has also made it harder for Netanyahu to say no to Trump — whether to the president’s demand that he apologize to his Qatari counterpart for Israel’s botched strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha in September, or the Gaza ceasefire deal that Washington brokered the next month.

Netanyahu has described that agreement as the diplomatic success for which he had long been holding out, but the White House has characterized it as something that needed to be “imposed” on the sides.

“The dynamic of [Netanyahu and Trump’s] relationship is very different than the one during the previous administration,” the Israeli official said.

Netanyahu tried to capitalize politically on his ability to buck former US president Joe Biden, boasting how he ignored purported demands not to launch an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah during the first year of the war.

But Biden is gone, and the UN has agreed to grant Trump’s Board of Peace a two-year mandate to oversee Gaza, potentially complicating Netanyahu’s efforts to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty in decisions about Gaza, even during an Israeli election year.

Netanyahu’s office issued a statement to reporters saying the security cabinet would, in the coming days, discuss the possible reopening of the Rafah Border Crossing. As far as the Board of Peace is concerned, however, that decision has already been made, and the crossing will resume full operations next week, despite Jerusalem’s insistence that it be conditioned on the return of the final Israeli hostage and the disarmament of Hamas.

Netanyahu, for the first time, acknowledged a “disagreement” over the makeup of the Gaza Executive Board earlier this week, but made a point of downplaying the rift, claiming the committee is a mere panel of advisers, while stressing how the dispute won’t harm the relationship with “our greatest friend in the White House.”

To be clear, Trump is also keen to avoid a public spat with Netanyahu, even when there are gaps between the pair regarding Gaza, a US official and a Republican source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel after the last meeting between the two leaders in December.

It was during that meeting that Trump heaped praise on Netanyahu, calling him a war hero, claiming that Israel might not have survived the war under a different prime minister and again urging President Isaac Herzog to grant the premier a pardon.

But Trump has also seemed to periodically relish having the upper hand in the relationship, posting on his Truth Social account last year a story from The Times of Israel, headlined: “Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year.”

A US official rejected the notion of an imbalance in ties, telling The Times of Israel, “President Trump has a close relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as demonstrated by their frequent meetings and calls. They have done great things for the region together, and the president looks forward to working with him to expand peace.”