Politics
Netanyahu set to meet Trump amid Israel’s growing isolation over Gaza conflict
Facing increasing isolation abroad and mounting domestic pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday to defend his intention to “finish the job” in Gaza.
The meeting follows Trump’s unveiling of a 21-point plan aimed at ending the conflict in the Palestinian territory, announced during discussions with Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
On Sunday, Trump teased “something special” in upcoming Middle East talks, posting on his Truth Social platform: “WE WILL GET IT DONE!!!”
Earlier, on Friday, Trump told reporters in Washington, “I think we have a deal” on Gaza, while Netanyahu, speaking at the UN, reiterated his determination to “finish the job” against Hamas.
Experts, however, say Netanyahu appears increasingly cornered, facing growing international and domestic calls to end the war.
“He has no other choice but to accept Trump’s plan for a ceasefire,” said Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israel relations at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.
“The United States and Trump in particular remain almost his only ally on the global stage.”
Comprehensive agreement
In Israel, tens of thousands of protesters have pressured Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, and on Saturday they urged Trump to use his influence.
“The only thing that can stop the slide into the abyss is a full, comprehensive agreement that ends the war and brings all the hostages and the soldiers home,” said Lishay Miran-Lavi, wife of Omri Miran, who remains captive in Gaza.
Directly addressing Trump, she urged: “Use your influence with Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
Israel’s international isolation has deepened in recent days, with countries including the UK, France, Canada and Australia officially recognising Palestinian statehood, breaking with longstanding US-led diplomatic protocols.
Trump’s 21-point plan, according to a diplomatic source, envisions a permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a major influx of humanitarian aid.
Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran said Sunday evening that the group “had not received any official proposal from Qatari or Egyptian mediators”.
Arab and Muslim leaders have welcomed the proposal, but have also called for an immediate halt to Israel’s military operations and any occupation of Gaza.
Some elements of the plan will prove hard for Netanyahu to swallow, and could even lead to the collapse of his right-wing government coalition.
Among the most controversial is the involvement of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) in the future governance of Gaza.
The PA ruled the territory until Hamas seized control in 2007, and its potential restoration represents a red line for Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners.
While the US proposal conditions the PA’s return on implementing reform programmes, these changes “could take years” to materialise, Gilboa warned.
Broad consensus
Several far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have threatened to collapse the government if he agrees to the PA’s return, or if he ends the war without defeating Hamas.
However, opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered a parliamentary “safety net”, promising his centrist Yesh Atid party would support a ceasefire and hostage-release deal but it is not clear whether other opposition parties would follow suit.
“This kind of broad plan would need a broad consensus,” said Ksenia Svetlova, a former Knesset member who now heads the regional cooperation NGO ROPES.
Svetlova predicted Netanyahu would only accept parts of the deal, while trying to negotiate or postpone decisions on other elements “seem difficult in this moment”.
Another contentious point in the US proposal is who would guarantee security in the Gaza Strip once the Israeli army pulls out and Hamas is disarmed.
The proposal envisions an international security force comprising Palestinian personnel alongside troops from Arab and Muslim nations.
However, critical details about command structure and operational control remain unclear.
“This plan is internationalising the Gaza conflict in an unprecedented way,” Svetlova said, “but without a clear plan on who will be the guiding star, what the end goals are, who will see it through.”
“The unpredictability factor runs wild here, really.”
- Cairo “studying” request for Sisi to join board, says FM.
- Canadian PM intends to accept Trump’s invitation: aide.
- Argentine president says it will be an ‘honour’ to join initiative.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” for postwar Gaza began to take shape Saturday, with the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada asked to join.
The announcements from those leaders came after the US president named his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the panel.
Trump had already declared himself the chair of the body, as he promotes a controversial vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory, which lies in rubble after two-plus years of relentless Israeli bombardment.
The moves came after a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo which was attended by Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has partnered with Witkoff for months on the issue.
In Canada, a senior aide to Prime Minister Mark Carney said he intended to accept Trump’s invitation, while in Turkey, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had been asked to become a “founding member” of the board.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo was “studying” a request for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to join.
Sharing an image of the invitation letter, Argentine President Javier Milei wrote on X that it would be “an honour” to participate in the initiative.
In a statement sent to AFP, Blair said: “I thank President Trump for his leadership in establishing the Board of Peace and am honoured to be appointed to its Executive Board.”
Blair is a controversial figure in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Trump himself said last year that he wanted to make sure Blair was an “acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair spent years focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as representative of the “Middle East Quartet” – the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – after leaving Downing Street in 2007.
The White House said the Board of Peace will take on issues such as “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding and capital mobilisation.”
The other members of the board so far are World Bank President Ajay Banga, an Indian-born American businessman; billionaire US financier Marc Rowan; and Robert Gabriel, a loyal Trump aide who serves on the US National Security Council.
Trump has created a second “Gaza executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role.
It was not immediately clear which world leaders were asked to be on each board.
The White House, which said Friday that additional members would be named to both entities, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Israel strikes
Washington has said the Gaza plan had gone on to a second phase – from implementing the ceasefire to disarming Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel prompted the massive Israeli offensive.
On Friday, Trump named US Major General Jasper Jeffers to head the International Stabilization Force, which will be tasked with providing security in Gaza and training a new police force to succeed Hamas.
Jeffers, from special operations in US Central Command, in late 2024 was put in charge of monitoring a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, which has continued periodic strikes aimed at Hezbollah.
Gaza native and former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath was earlier tapped to head the governing committee.
Trump, a real estate developer, has previously mused about turning devastated Gaza into a Riviera-style area of resorts, although he has backed away from calls to forcibly displace the population.
- Private carrier admits misjudgement, planning gaps.
- Regulator orders IndiGo to relieve senior office bearers.
- Operational meltdown linked to new policy of pilot rest.
India’s civil aviation regulator on Saturday imposed a fine of $2.45 million on IndiGo, the country’s biggest airline, for poor roster planning that led to large-scale flight cancellations in December.
Airports across India were thrown into disarray late last year, with the private carrier admitting “misjudgement and planning gaps” in adapting to a new policy of pilot rest.
Over 4,000 mostly domestic flights were either cancelled or delayed for over a week across the country, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The operational meltdown came even though IndiGo had two years to prepare for the new rules aimed at giving pilots more rest periods in between flights to enhance passenger safety.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was levying the penalty for several lapses, including “failure to strike (a) balance between commercial imperatives and crew members’ ability to work effectively”.
The regulator ordered IndiGo to relieve its senior vice president of its operations control centre of his responsibilities, according to a statement released on Saturday.
It also issued warnings to senior officials at the company, including CEO Pieter Elbers “for inadequate overall oversight of flight operations and crisis management”.
There was no immediate response from IndiGo to the fine.
IndiGo, which commands 60% of India’s domestic market, operates more than 2,000 flights a day.
The crisis was one of the biggest challenges faced by the no-frills airline that has built its reputation on punctuality.
India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets. In November 2024, IndiGo reached a daily level of 500,000 passengers for the first time.
- Protesters chant, “Greenland is not for sale.”
- Over “20,000 people” attend protest in Copenhagen.
- Trump says Greenland vital to US security.
COPENHAGEN: Protesters in Denmark and Greenland demonstrated on Saturday against President Donald Trump’s demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the US and called for it to be left to determine its own future.
Trump says Greenland is vital to US security because of its strategic location and large mineraldeposits, and has not ruled out using force to take it. European nations this week sent military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request.
In Copenhagen, demonstrators chanted “Greenland is not for sale” and held up slogans such as “No means No” and “Hands off Greenland” alongside the territory’s red-and-white flag as they marched to the US embassy.
Some wore red baseball caps resembling the “Make America Great Again” caps of Trump supporters, but with the slogan “Make America Go Away”.
In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, hundreds of protesters led by Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen carried flags and similar banners as they headed for the US consulate.
They passed a newly built block where Washington plans to move its consulate – currently a red wooden building with four staff.
Organisers estimated over 20,000 people attended the protest in Copenhagen – akin to the entire population of Nuuk – though police did not provide an official figure. Other protests were held across Denmark.
“I am very grateful for the huge support we as Greenlanders receive … we are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,” said Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark.
Trump triggers diplomatic rift
Trump’s repeated statements about the island have triggered a diplomatic crisis between the US and Denmark, both founding members of the NATO military alliance, and have been widely condemned in Europe.
The territory of 57,000 people, governed for centuries from Copenhagen, has carved out significant autonomy since 1979 but remains part of Denmark, which controls defence and foreign policy, and funds much of the administration.
Some 17,000 Greenlanders live in Denmark, according to Danish authorities.
All five parties elected to Greenland’s parliament ultimately favour independence, but they disagree on the timing and have recently said they would rather remain part of Denmark than join the US
Only 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland, and large majorities of Democrats and Republicans oppose using military force to annex it, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Trump called the poll “fake”.
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