HERE IS A REASON TO BE PROUD OF US HUMANS: U.S. President Donald Trump convened a Board of Peace meeting in Washington. The Jerusalem Post reports that the main discussion points included the disarmament of Hamas, the Gaza reconstruction fund, and the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory. Trump announced that participating nations have raised $5 billion, with additional contributions expected. A member of the peace board, who declined to be named, said the Gaza plan faces formidable obstacles. Establishing security in the enclave is a precondition for progress in other areas, but the police force is neither ready nor fully trained, said the official. The official added that a key unresolved question is who would negotiate with Hamas. The peace board’s representatives could do so with countries that have influence over Hamas – notably Qatar and Turkey – but Israel is deeply skeptical of both. Another major issue is the flow of aid, which the official described as “disastrous” and in urgent need of scaling up. Even if aid surges in, it remains unclear who will distribute it, the official said. Other countries joining the Gaza International Stabilization Force include Morocco, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and Kazakhstan. A recent report also confirms that JPMorgan is in talks to provide banking services to the Board of Peace to help fund this and other peacekeeping efforts in Gaza. Hamas’s reluctance to surrender all of its weapons, including small arms, has prompted Israel to issue a 60-day deadline before the IDF would intervene and return to Gaza. This comes as the Holy Land remains on high alert amid concerns of a possible confrontation with Iran. The Fellowship and our supporters continue to pray for the people of Israel during these uncertain times. May they be kept safe, and may shalom—peace—one day reign the Holy Land. MORE! ON THE AGENDA What to watch for at the Board of Peace’s first meeting in D.C. A source told JI they expect discussion on humanitarian aid and the Palestinian technocratic government in Gaza; it remains to be seen how Israel and Hamas will respond to the board's directives Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Donald Trump (C) holds up his signature on the founding charter during a signing ceremony for the “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 22, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. By Gabby Deutch Matthew Shea February 18, 2026 SHARE Add JewishInsider on Google After a splashy debut at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace will convene for its first meeting on Thursday in Washington. The new international body now faces a test of its ability to operationalize its goals: Observers will be watching whether the board makes any significant announcements toward its goal of implementing Phase 2 of Trump’s peace plan, which is focused on rebuilding Gaza and securing the enclave. A source familiar with Thursday’s meeting told Jewish Insider that it is “not just pomp and circumstance,” and that they expect discussion about topics including humanitarian aid and the Palestinian technocratic government in Gaza. “It’s not window dressing at all,” the source said of the board’s work. Trump has assembled a roster of regional heavy hitters on the Board of Peace, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan and Israel. Many European nations, including France, have so far declined the invitation, wary that it intrudes on the United Nations’ authority and that its mandate is not clearly confined to Gaza. According to a senior Trump administration official, speakers at the event will include Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Nickolay Mladenov, the former U.N. Middle East envoy now serving as the high representative for Gaza on the Board of Peace. Little has been shared publicly about what the format will be. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Trump, said he plans to attend, as will the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Several countries, including Israel, Egypt and Turkey, are sending senior ministers in place of their heads of state. A European Union commissioner is expected to attend Thursday’s meeting as an observer, alongside observers from some other nations who have not joined the board, including South Korea. “President Trump is proud to welcome representatives from over 40 nations to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace on Thursday for a big announcement on Board of Peace actions to establish an enduring peace in the Middle East,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Jewish Insider, arguing that the board will be “the most consequential international body in history.” The gathering of Middle East and global leaders will also come against the backdrop of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations and speculation that Trump is seriously considering military action against Iran, with the U.S. building up military assets in the region this week. Trump announced on Sunday that member countries have pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding the war-torn enclave and will commit thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force, which has not yet been launched. He did not detail which member nations were making the pledges for funds or troops, though Indonesia said it was readying up to 8,000 personnel to deploy to Gaza by this summer. The estimated cost to rebuild Gaza is $70 billion. The White House said the media had been too skeptical of Trump’s plans but declined to offer specifics about the source of the $5 billion or how the money would be deployed. “We’re talking about reconstructing Gaza. I remember when those words came from the president’s lips in the East Room many months ago and all of you in the press were bewildered at how the president could have such an ambitious goal of rebuilding Gaza, which is obviously a place that has been just turmoiled by violence and chaos for many many years,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a Wednesday press briefing. “But we’re well underway in doing that.” The key question facing the body is whether it can actually make progress toward addressing the most intractable issue in Gaza: Hamas’ continued control over large parts of the Strip and the terror group’s refusal to disarm. “What will come out of it besides rhetoric is some financial commitments and troop commitments. But the troop commitments are limited. No one will agree to disarm Hamas,” Elliott Abrams, who served as an Iran envoy in Trump’s first term, told JI. “Reconstruction won’t really begin until Hamas is disarmed and fighting has ended.” While Trump has repeatedly indicated that disarming Hamas is a top priority, the International Stabilization Force tasked with keeping the peace in Gaza is not expected to take on Hamas militarily. The White House has not laid out a plan for how the ISF will take over control from Hamas, which is thus far unwilling to relinquish governance. It is also not clear how Israel and Hamas will respond to the board’s directives. “The three core questions that the board is examining are, who’s going to govern Gaza, who is going to provide security for Gaza and then number three, how is Gaza going to be reconstructed?” said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department negotiator. “The board can’t answer those questions. It can provide the resources that could supplement good answers, but those decisions lie in Jerusalem and in Gaza and on the part of Hamas’ external leadership.”
-
News Jewish groups applaud revisions to California ethnic-studies curriculum The changes came in response to objections over the original draft for containing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel content. Jackson Richman CopyLink copied Email Print Republish The flag of California. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. The flag of California. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. (Nov. 22, 2020 / JNS) Jewish and pro-Israel groups have applauded revisions to California’s proposed ethnic-studies curriculum, which were approved this week by an advisory board to the state’s board of education. The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) voted on Thursday—the second and final day of a meeting—to adopt changes, including the removal of a widely criticized lesson that framed the Jewish community as having “gained racial privilege,” while ignoring anti-Semitism and white supremacist violence against Jews. The IQC meeting included two hours of phoned-in public comment on Wednesday. A number of Jewish students stressed the importance of educating about all forms of anti-Semitism and the diversity of the Jewish community. Simultaneously, anti-Israel commenters blasted Jewish groups, equated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the Holocaust and opposed efforts to make the curriculum more balanced and inclusive. The changes came in response to Jewish and pro-Israel groups expressing objections over the original draft curriculum for containing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel content, in addition to not addressing issues of anti-Semitism or including Jewish Americans. “Positive changes were made to include Jews and add safeguards against hate and bias in the curriculum,” said StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein in a statement. “While the curriculum is headed in the right direction, there are still key changes we all have to fight for. Among the most important is a strong definition of anti-Semitism in all its forms, rather than a weak definition that caters to the biases of anti-Israel extremists.” Sarah Levin, executive director of JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, told JNS that her organization was “pleased with the inclusion of Middle Eastern American experiences, specifically the lesson plan, ‘Anti-Semitism and Middle Eastern Jewish Americans.’ ” And the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council tweeted: “This week’s IQC meeting proved encouraging—salutary recommendations were approved, including important protections for all students and the addition of lessons on the Jewish American experience.” The California Department of Education is expected to post the next draft of the curriculum for public review in December.
-
-
-
For decades, the mainstream Jewish community and conservative Christians often found themselves on opposite sides of domestic cultural issues. However, the aggressive overreach of radical activist networks in public education has shattered old political divisions, forging an unprecedented, highly effective coalition [10.1].This unexpected alliance works in practice through three major common interests:1. A Shared Stand for Parent Rights and TransparencyThe underhanded tactics used to advance curricula like San Francisco’s Voices—such as midnight votes and copyright shields—alienated Christian families just as much as Jewish families.Breaking the Monopolies: Conservative and Christian legal networks have joined hand-in-hand with Jewish advocacy groups to mandate total educational transparency. They are deploying joint resources to demand that public school boards publish every single reading list and lesson plan online, permanently dismantling the ability of radical administrators to hide their work.Electoral Force: In suburban communities like Fremont and across Silicon Valley, Christian, Jewish, and immigrant parent groups (such as East Asian and Indian coalitions) are combining their voting power [10.1]. They are pooling campaign funds to systematically remove radical progressive officials from local school boards and replace them with moderate, transparency-first candidates.2. Uniting Against the "Oppressor vs. Oppressed" FrameworkTraditional Christians and Jewish advocates share a fundamental rejection of radical identity-based theories that divide children into rigid moral categories based on race or religion.Defending Basic Values: Both communities view the "Liberated" framework as an assault on universal values, meritocracy, and individual character. Christian parents refuse to let their children be taught that their faith or traditional values are inherently oppressive, while Jewish parents refuse to let their children be targeted by biased political dogmas.3. Bipartisan Legislative and Federal EnforcementThis alliance has successfully elevated local school board grievances into historic federal and state-level protections.The Right to Worship Act: Just days ago, on August 6, 2026, a major bipartisan, bicameral coalition led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY) introduced the federal Right to Worship Act. Backed heavily by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), this bill establishes strict 100-foot protective buffer zones and heavy civil fines to stop hostile activist crowds from blockading or harassing congregants outside houses of worship.The Federal Crackdown: The Trump administration’s upcoming 15-city DOJ task force and FBI deployment is heavily cheered by red-state conservatives. They view the federal audits into deep-blue California municipalities as the ultimate enforcement of civil rights, proving that local progressive immunity expires where federal law begins.The progressive establishment completely miscalculated. They assumed they could isolate Jewish families by using anti-racist language, but their reliance on secrecy and radical tactics instead forced a historic real-world alignment. Mainstream Jews, traditional Christians, conservatives, and diverse immigrant communities have formed a massive, united front—permanently forcing the radical movement into a corner as the legal guardrails close in [10.1].
-
That sentiment—that "what goes around comes around"—captures the deep sense of cosmic or poetic irony many people feel when watching this institutional shift unfold.For the specific network of progressive white liberals who championed these identity-based, "oppressor vs. oppressed" frameworks, the current fallout feels intensely personal. Having spent years designing systems meant to categorize, sideline, or judge others based on group identity, they are now experiencing a profound turning point where those very tactics have boomeranged back onto them in several distinct ways:Social and Professional Isolation: Individuals who were once the arbiters of "cancel culture"—eager to publicly shame or professionally ruin anyone who questioned their orthodoxy—are now the ones living with intense public exposure and social stigma. Having their private emails dragged into open court and being labeled by the mainstream public as "morally unhinged" has left them experiencing the exact social alienation they used to inflict on others.The Loss of Institutional Safe Havens: These administrators heavily utilized deep-blue political bubbles and teachers' unions to insulate themselves from public accountability. Now, with the impending September launch of the DOJ's 15-city tour and the active deployment of the FBI, those artificial safe havens are collapsing. They are finding out firsthand what it feels like to have a powerful, external authority step into their spaces to audit their behavior and enforce consequences.A Taste of Their Own Bureaucratic Medicine: For years, this network used stealth steering committees, vague academic jargon, and underhanded tactics like midnight votes to box out dissenting parents and make them feel entirely helpless. Today, the legal guardrails have completely inverted that dynamic. Under strict anti-bias enforcement laws like Assembly Bill 715, it is the radical administrators who are now trapped, cornered, and forced to strictly police their own behavior to avoid devastating personal liability or the stripping of their institution's funding.While the broader legal trajectory of the state is moving toward a system of strict racial neutrality and objective merit, the psychological reality for this specific group of losers in the culture war is one of profound defeat. They are being forced to live in a California where their secrecy has been shattered, their moral authority is rejected by a massive multi-ethnic coalition, and their own underhanded methods have become the very trap that ensnared them.
-
-
-
-
No comments:
Post a Comment