Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will depart on Tuesday evening for the United States, where he will represent Israel at the inaugural summit of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday.
Sa’ar will also attend a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday at the ministerial level to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East.
Along with Sa’ar, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Pakistan, and Indonesia are also expected to take part in the Security Council meetings.
Israel’s participation in the BoP summit follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of the US president’s invitation for Israel to join the board.
Netanyahu made Israel’s membership on the BoP official during a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House in Washington last week.
Sa’ar will attend the summit, which is set to begin at 9 a.m. local time (4 p.m. Israel time), at Netanyahu’s request.
Trump: Board of Peace members have pledged more than $5 billion for Gaza
Earlier this week, Trump said the BoP member states will announce at the upcoming meeting a pledge of more than $5 billion for reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump wrote that member states have also committed thousands of personnel toward a UN-authorized stabilization force and local police in Gaza.
The BoP initiative was originally designed with the intent of bringing the war in Gaza to a close, but Trump later said that it would resolve conflicts globally.
Italian opposition slams country’s plan to attend US Board of Peace as observer
Italy’s opposition groups criticized a government plan to attend the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace this week, saying on Tuesday that the body undermined the United Nations and ran counter to international law.
The group is scheduled to meet in Washington on Thursday for the first time since its establishment in January to discuss reconstruction plans for Gaza. Delegations from more than 20 countries are due to attend.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has close ties to Trump, has decided that Italy will take part as an observer, saying Rome wants to be involved in US peace efforts. Most Western nations remain reluctant to participate.
“How far are you willing to go in order to please Trump? You have answered this question: rushing to the American president’s court whenever and for any reason,” Giuseppe Provenzano, a lawmaker with the center-left Democratic Party, said during a debate in parliament with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Rome has ruled out full membership, saying parts of the board’s statute appear incompatible with its constitution. Rome can only join organizations on equal terms with other states, while the United States would enjoy primacy in the new body.
“The Board of Peace is based not on democracy but on arrogance, not on law but on business,” centrist lawmaker Riccardo Magi said, referring to US plans to build residential towers and seaside resorts in the Palestinian enclave.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani dismissed the criticism, saying no alternative had so far emerged to Trump’s plan for Gaza.
“If anyone thought there are concrete, workable alternatives to this plan today, they would be showing they don’t know how to deal with reality,” Tajani said.