Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

“For Palestinians, the appointment of Benjamin Netanyahu to the ‘Board of Peace’ is not just shocking but deeply offensive—he is seen by many as the mastermind of the genocide.”

With Palestinians in Gaza still under assault, searching the rubble for loved ones, and burying those newly killed by Israel’s military, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Wednesday to join US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace,” a move critics said further discredits a project that has widely been seen as farcical and potentially dangerous from the start.

The office of the Israeli prime minister, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, said in a statement that Netanyahu “accepts the invitation of US President Donald Trump and will become a member of the Board of Peace, which is to be comprised of world leaders.”

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Trump first announced plans for the Board of Peace last year, and the United Nations Security Council officially welcomed the body’s creation in a resolution passed in November—even as critics warned the board could undermine the UN.

The Security Council resolution endorsed the board as a “transitional administration with international legal personality that will set the framework, and coordinate funding for, the redevelopment of Gaza,” but its actual scope and ambition—as laid out by the Trump administration—appears much broader.

“Trump would serve as the board’s chair and US representative, overseeing a group of countries that he nominates for three-year terms,” the International Crisis Group explained. “At least 60 countries, including the Security Council’s other permanent members, have received an invitation to join. Any member could buy a permanent seat in exchange for a $1 billion investment.”

Egypt, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Morocco, and Hungary are among the other nations that have accepted Trump’s invitation to join the board.

But several US allies—including France, Norway, and Sweden—have rejected the US president’s invite. French officials reportedly expressed concern that the board’s charter extends beyond pursuing a resolution in the Gaza Strip and “raises major questions, particularly regarding respect for the principles and structure of the United Nations, which under no circumstances can be called into question.”

“How can someone accused of these crimes be branded a peacemaker? The population is still burying its dead—this is impunity dressed up as diplomacy.”

Observers were quick to denounce the addition of Netanyahu to a body whose purported aim is peace.

“The genocide architect and International Criminal Court fugitive who has been planning and promising the depopulation of Gaza is now officially part of the ‘Board of Peace,’” wrote political scientist Nicola Perugini.

Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University, called Netanyahu’s membership “the worst-case scenario when the UN Security Council authorized this travesty.”

“Sickening,” Haque added.

News of Netanyahu’s decision to join Trump’s Board of Peace came as Israel launched deadly new attacks on Gaza. Reuters reported that “Israeli fire killed 11 Palestinians, including two boys and three journalists, in Gaza on Wednesday, local medics said.”

Al Jazeera‘s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City, wrote Wednesday that “for Palestinians, the appointment of Benjamin Netanyahu to the ‘Board of Peace’ is not just shocking but deeply offensive—he is seen by many as the mastermind of the genocide.”

“He is viewed as responsible for mass killings, displacement, and the destruction of civilian life,” Abu Azzoum added. “From that perspective, how can someone accused of these crimes be branded a peacemaker? The population is still burying its dead—this is impunity dressed up as diplomacy.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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