Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar used the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump’s new “Board of Peace” on Thursday in Washington to deliver a blunt message: every international blueprint for Gaza has failed for the same reason—none of them removed the engine of the war.

Speaking at the US Institute of Peace, Sa’ar praised Trump’s “visionary leadership,” credited him—alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—with bringing the remaining hostages home, and described Israel as having endured “two years” of war on “seven different fronts.” 

He then anchored his remarks in Israel’s cost: Sa’ar said 925 Israeli soldiers were killed fighting Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah—whom he labeled “pure evil”—and insisted they “will not be forgotten.” 

“Not in it”—the premise behind Sa’ar’s argument

Sa’ar’s core claim was strategic, not ceremonial. Since Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, he said, it built what he called “the largest terror state in the world,” including infrastructure “above and below ground.” He framed the October 7 atrocities as the culmination of a long-running campaign—and as the reason Israel and its partners must build a postwar framework that makes repetition structurally impossible. 

That’s where Sa’ar placed Trump’s plan: he said it is “the first plan” to address the “root of the problem,” listing disarmament of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, demilitarization of Gaza, and deradicalization of Palestinian society as its center of gravity. 

Israel, he said, supports the plan and will work for its success. 

Foreign Minister @gidonsaar at the Board of Peace:

“I remember our 925 heroic soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war against pure evil: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. These are the best of people. To them we owe our existence and all of our achievements. They will… pic.twitter.com/PCFYtedu9e

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) February 19, 2026

Disarmament, dismantlement, and the “education problem”

Sa’ar laid out what “Hamas must be disarmed” means in practice: not only surrendering weapons, but dismantling “terror infrastructure,” including tunnels and weapons-production capabilities. 

He then moved beyond hardware to ideology—arguing that a lasting outcome requires a “fundamental deradicalization process,” including ending systems that “indoctrinate” children toward hatred and violence in educational and religious institutions. 

In one of the speech’s most pointed reframings, Sa’ar argued this is not only an Israeli security demand but a Gaza liberation requirement: “Gazans have lived under a terror regime for decades,” he said, and “must be liberated from these terrorists.” 

He closed by wishing Muslims worldwide “Ramadan Kareem,” before thanking Trump for creating “for the first time” an opportunity for a different future. 

Why Israel keeps returning to the same condition

The Board of Peace meeting convened as Trump’s administration pushes a governance-and-reconstruction framework tied to security enforcement and a transition away from Hamas. The White House has described the Board as overseeing governance, reconstruction, and development coordination through an executive structure linking the initiative to a transitional Gaza administration concept. 

But Sa’ar’s speech underscored Israel’s bottom line: money and institutions are secondary until the armed regime is removed—physically and culturally. In his telling, the international community’s habit has been to rebuild the façade while leaving the engine intact. This plan, he argued, flips the order.

Whether the Board of Peace can translate that principle into enforcement is the question now hanging over the initiative—because Gaza’s “day after” has never failed from lack of conferences. It has failed from lack of consequences.

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