‘Extraordinary absurdity’: Guess who just agreed to join Trump’s Board of Peace to rebuild Gaza? The man who destroyed Gaza
Seriously, who thought it was a good idea?
On Wednesday, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Donald Trump’s invitation to join the so-called “Board of Peace” for rebuilding Gaza. The announcement was delivered with straight-faced seriousness by Netanyahu’s office on X. At this point, we can’t help but ask, are these people even hearing themselves?
Israel’s PM office on X wrote on Jan. 21 that Netanyahu will “become a member of the Board of Peace, which is to be comprised of world leaders.” If that sentence made your brain stall for a second, congratulations, you still have functioning moral wiring. Because this isn’t “peace-building,” it’s a PR cleanse wrapped around a power club.
Trump has just welcomed the person most directly associated with Gaza’s destruction to help “rebuild” it. The irony is almost procedural: the architect of the blaze is now chairing the reconstruction committee.
What Trump’s “Board of Peace” actually is
Trump first proposed the “Board of Peace” in Sept. 2025 as part of his plan to end the Gaza war (via Reuters). Later, he signaled it would expand beyond Gaza to other conflicts. Trump would serve as inaugural chairman of the board, with a charter granting him expansive executive powers. This includes veto authority and the ability to remove members within constraints.
But here’s the part that turns this “peace initiative” into a premium membership program: The draft charter limits member states to three-year terms. That is, unless they pay more than $1 billion to fund the board in the first year. In that case, they would earn a permanent membership. So, yes. It’s peace. But with an upgrade tier.
Netanyahu’s joining falls within a broader roster of some deeply controversial additions to the Board. These include multiple Middle Eastern states, as well as leaders with nationalist ties to Trump. Even Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko accepted the invitation.
Netanyahu was the worst candidate for the Board
The entire optics package is already radioactive, and Netanyahu’s entry is the kind of surreal irony. As one user on X puts it,
A Board of Peace with Netanyahu. That’s like hiring a fox to guard the hen house and then asking it to write the menu. If you are looking for a lesson in irony, watch a man facing war crime charges get invited to a peace board. Classic.
Users called Netanyahu’s joining an “extraordinary absurdity,” with one writing, “You couldn’t even write this script if you wanted to.” And it’s not hard to see why. Would you call a criminal to operate on their victim? Trump does, apparently. So, another user called it straight-up “dystopian bulls–t” and the political-science version of a jump scare. One bluntly asked, “What is his [Netanyahu’s] role? Villain?”
A “Board of Peace” that welcomes leaders accused of overseeing mass violence isn’t an accident. It’s a signal. It tells the world: we’re not even pretending the victims get a seat at the table. The question then becomes brutally simple: Who is this board for? Gaza’s civilians, or the men who want to control Gaza’s ruins for their benefit?
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
