The Dictatorship

Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ is a grim joke

Published

3 weeks ago

February 22, 2026

Feb. 21, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

ByHussein Ibish

The inaugural meeting of the President Donald Trump-led “Board of Peace” on Thursday was fittingly described as a “show” in the White House readout circulated to the press. It was indeed merely a show. And while it is supposed to address post-war reconstruction in Gaza, there is no mechanism for connecting it to anything that could happen in reality.

The initial impulse for creating this board was the resolution of the war in Gaza and the reconstruction of the almost totally demolished living areas for the 2.2 million Palestinian civilians there, almost all now huddling in makeshift tents waiting for the next box of food aid. But the board’s remit recently expanded to ending multiple conflicts, including the war in Ukraine.

Neither Israel nor Hamas appear inclined to cooperate in preparing for any meaningful reconstruction project.

Notably, there are no Ukrainians or Palestinians on the board, although such champions of peace as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarus President Boris Lukashenko and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to join. The governments joining this board don’t include any of the United States’ Western allies.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was specifically disinvited — not that he ever showed any inclination to participate — after he criticized Trump’s attitude toward traditional U.S. partners. It is a self-selected group, in some cases, pledging a $1 billion permanent membership fee. The press release announcing the “run of show” of the board’s inaugural meeting was also replete with errors, including misstating the United Arab Emirate’s representative’s title and the name of the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs. Such simplistic errors regarding major leaders of long-standing and key U.S. partners reflects not only sloppiness and a lack of proofreading, but also, fundamentally, a downright disinterest in accuracy when it comes to foreign officials.

Despite the common misconception, the war in Gaza is still ongoing, with over 500 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministrysince the so-called ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 20, 2025 — and the reconstruction project is entirely disconnected from facts on the ground. Israel Defense Forces officials said at the time that they would control roughly half of Gaza, including almost all of its arable land, while Hamas has retaken control of the smaller western portion, which includes most of the demolished cities and towns, almost all the Palestinian civilians and sandy beaches.

Neither Israel nor Hamas appear inclined to cooperate in preparing for any meaningful reconstruction project, and both appear to be hunkering down to make this partition and attenuated war a semipermanent reality. Reconstruction, therefore, remains a diplomatic fantasy.

The reconstruction “master plan,” developed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, is an absurdist fantasy resembling decades of careful development in places like Dubai and Singapore. It ignored the inconvenient fact that essentially the entirety of the Gaza Strip is in rubble, and that the urgent need is for Palestinians to be provided with basic housing, food and water, health and education and the minimal necessities of life.

Instead, this real estate developer’s hallucination includes data centers, airports, train systems, beachfront resorts and any number of wild and inappropriate fantasies that disregard the needs of the people, the utter devastation in the area and the existence of major historical and religious sites in a place that has been of great strategic and cultural significance since ancient times.

Unless there is a dramatic change in fundamental realities in Gaza, reconstruction will remain a cruel fantasy and even a diplomatic hoax.

One of the dead giveaways about this “Board of Peace” is that its inaugural gathering was held at the former premises of the tragically disbanded Institute for Peacenow renamed the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.” That only underscores the extent America’s once-national institutions are being rapidly personalized and rebranded for the narcissistic gratification of a president with no regard for the inherent fiduciary responsibility of the office — and every determination to stamp his name and identity on everything possible.

The bottom line, though, is that, for all the pledges of billions and Kushner’s “Master plan” for Gaza reconstruction (he insists, chillingly, “there is no plan B”), there is, at present, absolutely no connection between the diplomatic kabuki show being run by the Trump administration, joined by countries interested in currying his favor for one reason or another, and actual events on the ground in Gaza or anywhere else. Unless there is a dramatic change in fundamental realities in Gaza, reconstruction will remain a cruel fantasy and even a diplomatic hoax.

So what will happen to the billions pledged, if, indeed, they are ever delivered? At present, it seems more than likely they will be spent on something dedicated to the greater glory of Trump, rather than saving or serving any of the millions of homeless, destitute and starving people of Gaza.

Hussein Ibish

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

The Dictatorship

The Latest: US hits pro-government demonstration in Iran as war threatens global economy

Published

13 hours ago

March 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Latest: US hits pro-government demonstration in Iran as war threatens global economy

The Dictatorship

Suspect in Temple Israel attack lost family in Israeli airstrikes

Published

23 hours ago

March 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Suspect in Temple Israel attack lost family in Israeli airstrikes

Mar. 13, 2026, 6:23 PM EDT

The suspect in an attack at a synagogue near Detroit lost several family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon this month, according to the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn and community leaders.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, lost his two brothers and a niece and nephew in the strike on their home, according to those sources. Whether that played a role in the motive for the attack remains unclear, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer deferred a question about it to the FBI on Friday, citing an ongoing investigation.

Authorities are looking at the possibility Ghazali may have had familial ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon, two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told MS NOW.

Ghazali died in the Thursday attack, in which authorities say he drove a car into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, injuring a security officer. Ghazali was a resident of Dearborn Heights, Mayor Mo Baydoun said in a Facebook post. Baydoun also said in that post that Ghazali “lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon” this month.

The Thursday attack in Michigan came as the U.S. and Israel wage a war with Iranwhich they launched on Feb. 28. Security around Jewish communities in places such as New York has been heightened since the conflict began.

Ghazali first came to the U.S. in 2011 on a spousal visa before being granted citizenship in 2016, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said.

In a phone interview with Fox host Brian Kilmeade, President Donald Trump appeared to blame former President Joe Biden for Ghazali’s entry into the country when asked about the Michigan attack and the deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Michigan.

“They came in a lot through Biden, and they came in through other presidents, frankly, and it’s a disgrace,” Trump said.

Temple Israel describes itself as the country’s largest Jewish Reform congregation, and it also has an early childhood education center on site that more than 100 kids attend, Whitmer said. All children were safely evacuated following the attack, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

“This is targeting babies who are Jewish,” Whitmer said. “That’s antisemitism at its absolute worst.”

The security guard who was injured was hospitalized but is expected to recover.

Whitmer on Friday thanked the synagogue’s security personnel, who she said “were selfless in their courage and they saved lives.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., added that if the synagogue’s private security, local law enforcement and first responders “had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone.”

Andrew Bossone and Chris O’Leary contributed to this report.

Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.

Marc Santia is an investigative correspondent for MS NOW.

The Dictatorship

Missile strikes a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say

Published

24 hours ago

March 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Missile strikes a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say

Mar. 14, 2026, 12:25 AM EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, two Iraqi security officials said.

Associated Press footage showed a column of smoke rising Saturday morning over the embassy compound.

The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”