Former prime minister Naftali Bennett stated on Tuesday that the foremost Israel haters and supporters of Hamas, Turkey and Qatar, were being ushered through Gaza’s front doors via the US-led Gaza Board of Peace and slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for allowing it.
“Erdogan and the despicable Qatar, the greatest haters of Israel, the most enthusiastic aides of Hamas, are being ushered in through the front door to run Gaza,” Bennett wrote on X/Twitter. “What a terrible diplomatic failure by the Netanyahu-Ben-Gvir-Smotrich government. Soon we will fix this, too.”
After the Board of Peace was announced on Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement the following day, objecting to it, asserting that it contradicts Israeli policy and was not brought up with Israeli authorities.
Among those named in the announcement was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Israel has long objected to Turkish involvement in post-war Gaza, considering the issue a red line.
Board of Peace a 'diplomatic failure' for Israel
Israeli politicians from across the spectrum, including opposition leader Yair Lapid, who called the US announcement a "diplomatic failure for Israel," subsequently came out against the board.
On Monday, sources told Reuters that Israel had also been invited to sit on the board. Nevertheless, Israel has yet to accept, and Netanyahu, in remarks made during the 40-signature debate in the Knesset plenum, vowed that no Turkish or Qatari soldiers would be present in Gaza.
“Turkish or Qatari soldiers will not be in the Strip,” the prime minister said. “We have a certain dispute with our friends in the United States regarding the composition of the advisory council that will accompany the processes in Gaza.”