Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Considers Abandoning Original Hamas Disarmament Plan Due To Israeli Pushback

 

 The board may rework the proposal to require full Hamas disarmament before any Israeli withdrawal

by Dave DeCamp | August 18, 2026 at 3:03 pm ET | Gaza, Israel

President Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” is considering altering its framework for a Hamas disarmament deal due to pushback from Israel, The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday.

Under the initial plan announced by President Trump, Hamas would begin “decommissioning” its weapons in phases, which would correspond with Israeli withdrawals from certain areas where demilitarization is confirmed. But Israel has rejected the proposal and wants Hamas to hand over all of its weapons before any Israeli pullback.

People walk at a site destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, August 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

A source told the Times that the Board of Peace is considering the changes, but the dispute over the deal’s terms was not settled during a meeting on Monday between President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which ended with an agreement that Israel would continue strikes in Gaza.

The Board of Peace previously suggested it was making changes to the disarmament plan after an earlier meeting of its officials with Netanyahu on August 3. After those talks, the board said that the IDF would withdraw from Gaza only after Hamas disarmed, contradicting its previous statements that said the disarmament and withdrawal would happen “in lockstep.”

The report acknowledged that making the change to the disarmament framework would risk losing Hamas’s support, as the Palestinian group agreed to the US proposal after months of negotiations. Hamas also has no reason to trust that Israel would withdraw after it disarmed, since Israel has blatantly violated the October 2025 ceasefire deal with daily attacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has also said that the IDF won’t withdraw from Gaza, even if Hamas disarms, and that the ultimate goal was to establish Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory.

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/18/trumps-board-of-peace-considers-abandoning-original-hamas-disarmament-plan-due-to-israeli-pushback/

Report: US Considers Reducing Persian Gulf Military Presence After Iran War

 

Many US bases in the Gulf Arab states were evacuated due to their vulnerability to Iranian attacks

by Dave DeCamp | August 18, 2026 at 5:56 pm ET | Iran

The US military is considering reducing its military presence in the Persian Gulf, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, as many of its bases in the region have been badly damaged by Iranian attacks.

Many of the US bases in the Gulf had been evacuated before the US and Israel launched the bombing campaign against Iran on February 28 due to their vulnerability, and some have been essentially abandoned following heavy Iranian attacks.

President Trump and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on May 15, 2026 (US Air Force photo)

During the most recent round of strikes, the US pulled much of its forces back to Jordan, though Iran was able to strike US bases there and killed at least three US troops, injured more than 100, and destroyed military equipment.

The Post report said that the damage to US bases in the Gulf has “prompted a once-in-a-generation chance for the Pentagon to reconsider its presence in the region” and that the Pentagon had already signaled it may not rebuild its Gulf bases to how they were before.

Sources told the paper that Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), has been involved in discussions about the future of the US military presence in the region and supports holding deliberations on potentially moving troops west from the Persian Gulf.

Notably, a pullback of US troops from the Persian Gulf has been one of Iran’s conditions for a deal to end the conflict. Iranian officials have frequently said that they believe this war will lead to a US “retreat” from the region.

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/18/report-us-considers-reducing-persian-gulf-military-presence-after-iran-war/

"We must flood social media with fake news to defend Israel’

 https://x.com/voiceofrabbis/status/2089933262194114703

Voice of Rabbis

@voiceofrabbis

"We must flood social media with fake news to defend Israel’ Israeli politician Eli Hazan says the ‘truth no longer matters" Israeli official's confess. that their statements are aimed at spreading lies rather than revealing the truth

2:31 PM · Aug 19, 2026

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https://x.com/voiceofrabbis/status/2089933262194114703

THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ is “new US territory”, Donald Trump said yesterday, posting a map making the point clear.

 https://x.com/NuryVittachi/status/2089865167270277308

Nury Vittachi

@NuryVittachi

THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ is “new US territory”, Donald Trump said yesterday, posting a map making the point clear. While some analysts suggested this might be a joke, others pointed out that both the US President and foreign minister Marco Rubio have made numerous territory-snatching claims entirely seriously—and acted upon them. - The western hemisphere is “our hemisphere”, Rubio has said several times, indicating that the US considers all the countries of South America, plus Canada, to already belong to the US. - Furthermore, the successful takeover of Venezuela confirmed that illegal US military-led expansionism is not a joke, but entirely real. - The White House has also openly said that it intends to take over Cuba, and has blockaded the island to make it happen in the near future. (The US has controlled part of Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, for 24 years, as a place to hold prisoners without trial, beyond the reach of its own laws on human rights.) - Trump and Rubio pressured Panama to align with the US by getting rid of the Hong Kong people running its port terminals and the country complied. . NO MORE TALKS Furthermore, Trump’s map of the Strait of Hormuz as “new US territory” coincided with his statement that there would be no more negotiations to stop the US attack. "There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect," Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday. . 'ASIANS MUST NEVER RULE ASIA' With statements like this, the US is leaning into its reputation as a nation above the law, ready to snatch control of any sovereign territory it desires, analysts said. The US has conducted more than 100 regime change operations around the world, academic studies show. In particular, US foreign policy since the time of George F Kennan in 1948 has said that Asians must never rule Asia, with the US needing to act to remain in charge of the entire region. At the moment, several US-controlled powers (including Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia) have been commissioned to act as Washington proxies to ensure US dominance over the peoples of Asia-Pacific. Their strategy is to portray China as a US-style aggressive military expansionist nation, but few people believe it. . .

10:00 AM · Aug 19, 2026

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https://x.com/NuryVittachi/status/2089865167270277308