A $112B Gaza rebuild plan sends one message: terror pays - comment

Davos turns mass graves into investor opportunities. That’s the business model.

Israelis saw exactly what the plan means. Gaza gets a global reconstruction windfall for starting the war. Israel gets reprimanded for winning it.

Israel fought for two years. Soldiers died clearing tunnels. The October 7 massacre families still lack some of their dead. Every Western capital lectured Jerusalem about proportionality throughout.

Israelis expected Hamas to be destroyed, the hostages home, and real security changes that prevent the next pogrom. They expected consequences for people who live-streamed themselves murdering grandmothers.

Davos showed up with architectural renderings and financing packages for Gaza.

The message to every terrorist movement watching: Murder enough Jews on camera, hide behind civilians, survive long enough, and the international community arrives with reconstruction billions. Zero meaningful accountability required.

This plan explicitly creates an incentive structure for the next war. The technical term is “moral hazard,” but the plain language version works better: You’re rewarding the people who started this.

Leaving two million people in permanent ruins makes no sense. Rebuilding Gaza qualifies as necessary. The structure of how you rebuild determines what lesson you teach. A reconstruction plan detached from consequences functions as an invitation to try again.

Gaza lacked many things before the war. Luxury hotels ranked low on the list. The war started because an armed movement decided raping Jewish women and burning children alive counted as legitimate resistance. Enough of the world nodded along or looked away to make the gamble seem worth it.

Israelis hear “billions,” and “tourism,” and “100% employment,” and ask the natural question: Where are the consequences for October 7? What does Israel gain from this arrangement?

Nothing, apparently.

Israel receives stakeholder status in the new “Board of Peace” instead of security.

The design explicitly aims to expand beyond Gaza to other conflicts. US President Donald Trump floated it as a UN replacement. Governments worry it undermines existing institutions.

That global ambition reveals the game. Israel gets asked to legitimize a new international structure. Israel needs specific things: demilitarization that holds, borders that work, intelligence freedom to stop the next massacre, and enforcement that survives reality.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office objected immediately. The executive board’s composition contradicts Israeli policy and happened without Israeli coordination – possibly without Israel’s knowledge. Turkey’s foreign minister sits on the board – Turkey, whose president embraces Hamas leaders and calls Israel a terrorist state.

The tell sits right there. The many people designing Gaza’s future – some of whom are true friends of Israel – treat Israel as one stakeholder among many. What they keep forgetting is that Israel will bury the soldiers when or if this initiative fails.

Netanyahu can’t attend these discussions in half of Europe because an International Criminal Court warrant has his name on it. Israel’s prime minister gets functionally banned from capitals making decisions about Israeli security. Meanwhile, the architects of the October 7 massacre get amnesty provisions written into reconstruction plans.

The moral inversion couldn’t be clearer.

Trump’s 20-point plan grants amnesty to Hamas members who commit to peace and surrender weapons after the hostage returns. These terrorists will be able to receive safe passage for just wanting to leave Gaza.

In Israel, we spent two years dismantling Hamas – and it wasn’t easy. Families buried their dead. Communities evacuated. The economy absorbed massive damage. International pressure continued every single day. Now, the plan offers Hamas fighters amnesty in exchange for weapons, while Gaza receives $112b.

Victory looks like this?

The world hands out reconstruction billions without visible consequences for the perpetrators. The statement being made concerns Jewish blood specifically: Spilling it costs nothing.

The war just so happened to Israel, according to this narrative. The same narrative sees that Gaza has suffered and deserves compensation. The subtext is the following: The Israelis should stop being emotional.

The Board of Peace charter avoids mentioning Gaza specifically, even though Gaza represents its first deployment. Intentional design. The board functions as a mobile international platform ready to deploy anywhere.

Here’s my issue: Israel gets asked to help build a new global institution. This institution is designed to be more favorably disposed and less hostile toward Israel. At the same time, Israel receives zero security guarantees in return.

Israel has enough international bodies issuing statements and hosting conferences already. They excel at condemning Israel. The problem is that these institutions fail spectacularly at preventing wars. That’s exactly why Trump wants to create a new one.

Israel needs real enforcement. Monitoring that persists when Western attention shifts. Consequences that actually deter.

The plan contains none of this.

Kushner told critics to wait 30 days and give the board a chance. Israelis can wait 30 days. They’ve waited through trial periods before.

The pattern repeats: Ceasefires hold temporarily, monitoring works briefly, international forces stay until casualties appear then leave. Israel faces a rebuilt Gaza and reconstituted threat alone while the international community expresses surprise.

Just counting, really.

The plan sells beachfront property and economic zones for poor Gazans. Israelis demanded a permanent end to the threat when this war started. That still remains absent.

Israel can support Gaza reconstruction. The reconstruction structure must avoid rewarding violence. Money gets conditioned on verifiable demilitarization. Governance reform gets enforced, not performed. Education systems stop teaching genocide as liberation. Israel needs veto power over terms – because Israel pays when experiments fail.

Davos offered Gaza prospering. Israel needs to ensure its own survival, but Gaza receives $112b. and global sympathy. Israel gets process documents and restraint lectures.

Israelis buried enough dead to recognize a bad deal. They’re not buying it.