News Digest — 1/21/26
Netanyahu To Join Trump’s Board Of Peace
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday morning (21st) that he has accepted the invitation of US President Donald Trump and will join the “Board of Peace.”
“The Prime Minister will join as a member of the Board of Peace, which will be composed of world leaders,” stated his office.
On Thursday (15th), Trump announced the creation of the Board of Peace for Gaza, adding that the names of the members would be made public at a later date.
“It’s my great honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed. The members will be announced shortly, but I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The Board of Peace is part of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which led to the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization this past October.
The plan stipulates that the “Board of Peace” serves as an international transitional oversight body that supervises and provides oversight to Gaza’s transitional administration during a post-ceasefire reconstruction period.
As part of the plan, day-to-day administration is handled by a technocratic Palestinian Arab committee overseen by an intermediate executive committee. The Board of Peace is chaired by President Trump himself and is expected to include around 10-15 leaders from Arab, Western, and other countries.
Sa’ar To EU: ‘Rise To The Moment: Answer The Call Of The Iranian People’
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday (20th) held a joint press conference in Prague with Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, focusing on bilateral relations and regional challenges, with particular emphasis on Iran.
Addressing the situation in Iran, Sa’ar said that behind an internet shutdown, “the repression of the Iranian people continues,” accusing the regime of severe violence against its own citizens.
“The Ayatollah regime in Iran is brutally butchering its own people as they struggle for their freedom,” Sa’ar said. “The Revolutionary Guards have spread terror and instability in the Middle East and beyond for decades. Now, they are leading the massacre of the Iranian citizens.”
Sa’ar welcomed Czech support for designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization within the European Union, and issued a direct appeal to EU leaders.
“I call on the European Union. Rise to the moment. Answer the call of the Iranian people. Designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization,” he said.
Warning of broader implications, Sa’ar stated that “the Iranian regime poses a huge threat to regional and global stability,” describing it as “the world’s most dangerous and extreme regime” seeking nuclear weapons. He added that such a development would pose “a grave threat not only to Israel and the Middle East, but also to Europe.”
Earlier in his remarks, Sa’ar thanked the Czech hosts for their hospitality and highlighted the longstanding friendship between Israel and the Czech Republic. He noted the deep historic ties between the Jewish people and Prague, recalling both the flourishing of Jewish life and the devastation of the Holocaust, in which around 80,000 Czech Jews were murdered.
Sa’ar also referenced Czechoslovakia’s 1947 vote at the UN in favor of Israel’s establishment and the military assistance provided in 1948, which he said was critical to Israel’s survival.
He praised the close relationship between the two countries in recent years, particularly following October 7th, and pointed to strong people-to-people ties, including a significant increase in Israeli tourism to the Czech Republic.
Turning to regional security, Sa’ar reiterated Israel’s position on Gaza, stating, “We support the Trump Plan in Gaza. In order for it to be implemented, Hamas must be disarmed and Gaza must be demilitarized.” He said dismantling terror organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis is essential for regional stability.
Sa’ar concluded by thanking the Czech leadership for the discussions, and extending invitations, on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for Czech leaders to visit Jerusalem, expressing confidence that cooperation between the two countries would continue to deepen.
Hamas Weighs Moving Their Officials Out Of Gaza – Report
Sources in Hamas say the group is quietly weighing a dramatic step that it has long rejected publicly: allowing some of its senior figures to leave the Gaza Strip as talks move toward the next phase of the ceasefire process.
The report published Tuesday (20th) by the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awset and cited in Israel by Walla, claims that a number of prominent Hamas political and military officials in Gaza are making arrangements for what was described as a coordinated “safe exit” from the enclave.
One Hanas-linked source told the paper the move would be voluntary and carried out under specific understandings, with full coordination from Hamas’ external leadership.
At the same time, the report says there is resistance inside the organization. According to another source, several commanders, particularly within Hamas’ military wing, are refusing to leave Gaza under any circumstances.
It confirmed the preparations would represent a sharp contrast to Hamas’ repeated messaging throughout the war, during which senior officials insisted the group’s leadership would not be removed from the Strip.
Asharq Al-Awset said it received names of individuals who may be included in the departure arrangements but withheld them because it could not independently reach them.
This report also described internal reshuffling within Hamas’ Gaza leadership, including new appointments to the group’s political bureau as part of a reorganization process attributed to senior Hamas figure Ali al-Amoudi.
In addition, the paper claimed that some Hamas terrorists who were freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and later rose to senior leadership roles, are expected to relocate to Turkey.
A Hamas official based outside Gaza denied the report, saying, “The issue was not raised at all.”
Sources cited in the report gave differing assessments of what an exit would mean in practice. Some said it would be a long-term departure lasting several years, with Hamas leaders dispersing across multiple countries.
Others suggested the travel could be temporary, tied to meetings in Egypt with security officials over future arrangements related to governance and security forces in Gaza, after which the officials would return.
Alsharq Al-Awset also referenced comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Fox News interview in late September, in which he said Israel was considering allowing safe passage for Hamas leaders who choose to leave Gaza, under certain conditions.
The report comes as discussions continue over a potential second phase of the ceasefire process, with Hamas claiming it has met the requirements to move forward. The proposed next steps could include Hamas relinquishing control of Gaza, the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic committee to administer the territory, and the start of a disarmament process.
Israel, Greece Deepen Defense Cooperation, Discuss Counter-Drone And Missile Systems
Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz was in Athens on Monday (19th) for talks with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, highlighting strategic defense ties between the two countries.
The visit builds on an already close defense relationship that includes joint military exercises, pilot training programs hosted in Greece, and a recently agreed trilateral military work plan with Cyprus for 2026.
Dendias said cooperation between the two countries continues to deepen, particularly in counter-drone capabilities, cybersecurity, and the exchange of operational experience.
He noted that discussions also addressed developments in the Red Sea and Yemen, as well as security challenges in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking after the meeting, Dendias reiterated Greece’s condemnation of the October 7 attacks on Israel and reaffirmed Athen’s support for Israel’s right to self-defense.
He added that Greece backs international initiatives aimed at stabilizing Gaza and is prepared to contribute in broader efforts to promote peace and regional security.
He also stressed the importance of protecting civilian populations and religious communities in Syria and Lebanon, with particular emphasis on Christian minorities.
In his remarks, Katz said Israel remains on heightened alert amid what he described as “a conflict fought across seven fronts,” warning that efforts to impose control through terrorism or regional destabilization would face a coordinated international response.
He also referred to Israel’s ongoing efforts to recover the remains of hostages and fallen soldiers held by Hamas, calling it both a moral and national obligation.
Greek media reported that the Athens talks were closely linked to wider discussions on advanced air and missile defense systems, counter-drone technologies, and maritime security.
According to those reports, Israeli systems are being examined as part of Greece’s planned multi-layered air defense architecture, although no formal procurement decisions have been announced.
The trilateral cooperation includes the formation of an Eastern Mediterranean rapid response team, joint exercises and training, and working groups addressing shared security challenges – most probably Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the Israeli-Greece-Cypriot military cooperation, saying it threatens Ankara’s interests in the region.
Why Israel Is Seen Everywhere And Everything Else Is Forgotten – Samuel J. Hyde
Israel occupies an outsized and morally charged pace in the media’s imagination, particularly in the West. There is a systemic, disproportionate fascination, bordering on obsession, with covering Israel as though it were the gravitational center of world affairs. With this saturation coverage, Israel becomes not just another country among many but a kind of moral index – a stage upon which the world’s conscience is imagined to be tested and revealed,
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict occupies a particular and disproportionate place in the West’s political imagination, unmatched by conflicts that are deadlier or more brutal. So it becomes over-seen, over-examined, intensely dissected, and uniquely moralized.
Israel’s wars are routinely framed as the”Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” of a localized struggle between two neighboring peoples, one strong and one weak, one powerful and one victimized. This framing is tidy, emotionally resonant, and yet profoundly misleading.
Most of Israel’s wars have not been fought against Palestinians but against Egyptians and Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanese, Iraqis and, increasingly, Iranians. The rockets fired at Israel during the war did not only come from Gaza. They came from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and from Iran itself. A vast and intricate regional struggle is reduced to Israelis vs. Palestinians. Israel is cast as the dominant actor, the controlling force, and ultimately the villain. The wider forces shaping the conflict vanish altogether.
This is how media distortion always works – by shrinking and enlarging the facts selectively. A small story is made to seem enormous. The result is a morality play in which a villainous country called Israel comes to embody the worst sins of the modern age. Israel ceases to be a state acting within a volatile region and becomes instead a metaphor for everything the imagination fears about power and injustice. If the coverage of Israel feels uniquely charged, moralized, and obsessive, it is because it is.
The writer is a fellow at theJewish People Policy Institute. (Substack)
The UN Condemns Israel Obsessively While Averting Its Gaze From Mass Repression In Iran – Jake Wallis
Anybody who knows anything about the UN understands that it has been saturated in Israelophobia for decades. Remember how Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general, claimed that the October 7 attacks “did not happen in a vacuum?”
Remember how the war in Gaza produced the increasing weaponization of the mechanisms of the UN against the Jewish state, culminating in the fabrication of charges of famine, even though the only pictures of supposedly starving Gazans turned out to be people with serious health disorders? Remember the libelous endorsement of the false charge of genocide?
But despite all of the examples cited above, and the reams of other evidence besides, the UN has continued to enjoy a sterling reputation in the eyes of the man in the street, which is why it has been such an effective weapon against Israel.
Sometimes, however, a sudden change of light makes you see things more clearly. On Thursday (15th), Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, who had been targeted three times for assassination by the regime, was invited by the U.S. to address the UN Security Council. The brave Alinejad was scathing. “The secretary-general has not spoken publicly against the massacre,” she said. During her testimony, she broke down when reading the names of the protesters who had been killed.
The UN’s indulgence of the worst regime in the world, which is the other side of the coin to their obsessive condemnation of the freest nation in the Middle East, has been exposed for all to see.
(Jewish Chronicle-UK)
