The team of Tony Blair, Jared Kushner and the head of the Board of Peace, Nikolay Mladenov went into their meeting today with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu loaded with blanks and three hours later had hit nothing. The Guardian reported: “An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in the meeting... Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.” Ha’aretz reported that the U.S. agreed that Netanyahu could continue striking Gaza.
The Board of Peace released what was a truly bizarre statement, that the meeting was “lengthy, in depth and very productive... We agreed with the PM on a path forward. The Israelis are going to give this a chance. Now it’s up to Hamas to show if it truly intends to comply.” Completely omitted is that Israel is not even giving ‘a chance’ to their agreement of October 2025, much less anything further.
Netanyahu’s office stated: “The Prime Minister and Board of Peace had deep and constructive discussions. It was agreed to establish two working groups, one on disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza, which both Israel and the Board of Peace are determined should be prompt and completed before any reconstruction happens in Gaza.” However, up to now, it was Hamas that was to disarm and Israel that was to demilitarize—that is, remove their military from Gaza. The statement from the office, on the face of it, appears deliberately misleading.
