'Board Of Peace' For Gaza Shaping Up: Blair, Erdogan, Javier Milei, Included

Turkey’s Erdogan, Egypt’s Sisi invited to sit on Trump’s Gaza Peace Board

TOI STAFF

Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday

US President Donald Trump has invited Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to join the so-called Board of Peace that will oversee postwar Gaza, Turkey says.

Erdogan received the proposal in a letter yesterday from Trump inviting him to “become a founding member” of the board, Turkish presidential communications director Burhanettin Duran posts on social media.

Erdogan, while close to Trump, is one of the most bitter critics of Israel and Jerusalem has repeatedly opposed Turkish involvement in Gaza.

Tony Blair says he’s ‘honored’ to be part of Gaza Board of Peace

 Former UK prime minister Tony Blair says he was “honored” to be tapped by US leader Donald Trump to a fledgling board to help rebuild Gaza.

“I thank President Trump for his leadership in establishing the Board of Peace and am honoured to be appointed to its Executive Board,” the veteran politician and former UN Quartet Middle East envoy says in a statement sent to AFP.

Argentina’s Milei invited by Trump to join Gaza Board of Peace, calls it ‘an honor’

Argentinian President Javier Milei said Sunday that he was invited by US President Donald Trump to join the “Board of Peace” meant to oversee post-war Gaza.

Sharing an image of the invitation letter, Milei wrote on X that it would be “an honor” to participate in the initiative which is chaired by Trump and already has US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British prime minister Tony Blair among its members.

Egypt says it’s reviewing Trump’s invitation to Sisi to join Board of Peace

Egypt is reviewing an invitation by US President Donald Trump to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to join the so-called Board of Peace for Gaza, Egypt’s foreign minister says in a press conference.

The board is set to supervise the temporary governance of Gaza, which has been under a fragile ceasefire since October

White House unveils members of Gaza ‘Board of Peace’

RT

President Donald Trump has unveiled the leadership structure of a high-powered committee which will oversee the reconstruction and governance of Gaza, naming himself as its chairman and appointing a controversial roster of diplomats, financiers and political allies.

In a White House statement released Friday, the administration confirmed the formation of the so-called “Board of Peace,” a central pillar of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza war.

Its responsibilities include “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization.”

The most prominent appointees are former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner. They will be joined by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, and Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gabriel.

Some appointments are likely to draw scrutiny. Tony Blair, a key US ally in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, remains a polarizing figure in the region. Kushner’s prior peace initiatives were overwhelmingly rejected by Palestinian leadership for heavily favoring Israel

The announcement formalizes the launch of what Trump has called “Phase Two” of his peace plan, which follows the initial ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement reached in early October.

This phase focuses on the demilitarization of Hamas and the establishment a new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

The NCAG is led by a Palestinian, Dr. Ali Sha’ath, and held its first meeting in Cairo on Thursday. The White House has described Sha’ath as “widely respected for his pragmatic, technocratic leadership.”

*[Combining articles above members appear to be: Blair, Erdogan, Milei, el-Sisi, Kushner, Rubio, Witkoff, Rowan, Banga, and Gabriel]

Khamenei says Iran ‘must break the back of the seditionists’ after unrest

Iran’s regime plans to completely cut its people off from internet — watchdog

Khamenei calls Trump a ‘criminal,’ blames him for protest casualties and damage

Pentagon sends ‘USS Abraham Lincoln’ to Middle East amid Iran turmoil

Pentagon sends ‘USS Abraham Lincoln’ to Middle East amid Iran turmoil

JNS

The Pentagon has ordered the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group to move to the Middle East amid mounting unrest in Iran, according to multiple media reports.

The San Diego-based Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was operating in the South China Sea when the order was issued. It is expected to take roughly a week for the strike group to transit from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, Forbes reported.

The move comes as protests continue to spread across Iran over economic hardship and restrictive social policies imposed by the Islamic Republic. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could use military force if Iranian authorities harm demonstrators.

The Abraham Lincoln strike group includes the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance, also based in San Diego, as well as the Pearl Harbor-based destroyers USS Michael Murphy and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. A U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine typically operates alongside a carrier strike group, though its identity is not disclosed for operational security reasons.

With a crew of 5,000, the carrier was deployed to the Middle East in August 2024 to deter Iran from attacking Israel. Its redeployment fills a rare gap in U.S. naval presence in the region

At present, the United States has no other aircraft carrier strike group operating in either the Mediterranean Sea or the Indian Ocean, as a sizable U.S. naval presence remains positioned off Venezuela.

Defense analysts noted that while a carrier is not essential for offensive operations, its presence in the Middle East serves as a visible signal of deterrence and U.S. military readiness amid rising tensions with Tehran.

Is The Almost Constant Seismic Activity Along The West Coast Building Up To A Major Catastrophic Event?

Is The Almost Constant Seismic Activity Along The West Coast Building Up To A Major Catastrophic Event?

Michael Snyder

This month, seismic activity along the west coast has been making headlines almost every single day.  Could it be possible that all of this seismic activity is leading up to some sort of a really big event?  It should be obvious to everyone that the clock is ticking.  I have been sounding the alarm about the potential for apocalyptic seismic events along the west coast for a long time, and now it feels like we are building up to some sort of a crescendo. 

On Thursday, a “major earthquake” suddenly struck an area approximately 180 miles from the Oregon coast…

A major earthquake has struck off the coast of Oregon, sending shockwaves felt in multiple cities along the US West Coast with more quakes expected to follow.

The magnitude 6.0 earthquake erupted in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 180 miles from the coastline, at 10.25pm ET Thursday night.

This earthquake was so powerful that it was felt as far away as Portland, and it was followed by magnitude 3.1 quake.

But what is really alarming the experts is the fact that these quakes “took place along the Juan de Fuca Plate”…

This latest quakes took place along the Juan de Fuca Plate, which drives the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) – a nearly 700-mile-long fault line off the West Coast of North America.

Scientists have long warned that the zone is overdue for a catastrophic event, with many nicknaming it the ‘Sleeping Giant.’

Simulations have shown the fault is capable of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that would impact most of the Pacific Northwest, including major cities such as Seattle and Portland.

I have written countless articles about the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

The next time it produces a megathrust earthquake, there might not be any warning at all.

And when that happens, a “100-foot-tall mega tsunami” could suddenly come slamming into coastal towns and cities…

If an earthquake between 8.0 and 9.0 in magnitude struck today, scientists have estimated that the shockwave could produce a 100-foot-tall mega tsunami which wipes out most of the nearby coastline.

A 2022 emergency report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated that there would be over 100,000 people injured and over 618,000 buildings damaged or destroyed during the next major CSZ earthquake

Scientists assure us that this is going to happen someday.

It is just a matter of time.

The day before the magnitude 6.0 earthquake off the coast of Oregon, a swarm of at least 40 earthquakes began in Southern California.  The following comes from a Daily Mail article entitled “Dozens of earthquakes shake California where the earth is tearing apart”…

At least 40 earthquakes have shaken Southern California since Wednesday morning, with the largest reaching a magnitude of 4.4.

The US Geological Survey recorded the first quake near Holtville at 1:40am PT on Wednesday, with the most recent detected on Thursday morning.

Hundreds of California residents have issued reports of shaking to the USGS, and shockwaves were also recorded in Arizona and Mexico.

The city of Holtville is about 130 miles from San Diego, and it sits in an area known as the Salton Trough.

Geologists tell us that the Salton Trough is a place where the crust of our planet is literally “slowly pulling apart”…

Geologists describe the Salton Trough as a young, actively stretching rift valley, meaning the Earth’s crust in the region is slowly pulling apart.

This process occurs because the Pacific Plate is sliding northwestward relative to the North American Plate along the San Andreas system, while simultaneously, the crust in the Salton Trough is being stretched and thinned.

As the land pulls apart, it fractures along numerous faults, including the Imperial Fault and smaller subsidiary faults, producing frequent earthquakes of varying magnitudes.

The day before the earthquake swarm started in Holtville, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake hit Mendocino County in Northern California…

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck eastern Mendocino County on Tuesday afternoon, shaking a rural area southeast of Willits, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The quake occurred at 1:10 p.m. local time and was centered roughly 6 miles east-southeast of Willits, the agency said. It struck at a depth of just under 5 miles, a level that can produce noticeable shaking near the surface.

Could it be possible that the Mendocino Triple Junction is waking up?

The Mendocino Triple Junction is considered to be one of the most dangerous seismic zones along the entire California coastline…

Off the coast of Humboldt County lies the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three of Earth’s major tectonic plates come together. South of this point, the Pacific plate moves northwest alongside the North American plate, forming the San Andreas fault. North of the junction, the Gorda (or Juan de Fuca) plate pushes northeast and slides beneath the North American plate, sinking into the Earth’s mantle in a process known as subduction.

Our scientists have always known that the Mendocino Triple Junction is a major threat.

But now they have discovered that there are “five moving pieces rather than just three major plates”…

The updated model shows that the region contains five moving pieces rather than just three major plates. Two of these pieces are completely hidden below the surface.

At the southern end of the Cascadia subduction zone, the researchers found that a section of the North American plate has broken off and is being pulled downward along with the Gorda plate as it sinks beneath North America.

South of the triple junction, the Pacific plate is dragging a mass of rock known as the Pioneer fragment beneath the North American plate as it moves north. The fault separating the Pioneer fragment from the North American plate lies nearly flat and cannot be seen from the surface.

The entire west coast of the United States sits directly along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the past 12 months have been a time when the Pacific Ring of Fire has been shaking like crazy.

Of course the entire southern coast of Alaska also sits directly along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and it was just hit by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake.

And last month a magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked the state…

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake occurred at 11:41 a.m. local time in northeast of Yakutat, Alaska, the USGS said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Yakutat had a total population of about 657 in 2020 and 332 housing units in 2023. Yakutat is over 300 miles from Anchorage, where the earthquake was also felt, the USGS’s interactive map shows.

Alaska gets pummeled by significant earthquakes so frequently that most of them don’t even make the news anymore.

But they should.

I think that seismic activity along the Pacific Ring of Fire is going to be a major theme in 2026.

 

Genetics Helping Restore Priestly Lineage Of Levites For Third Temple Service

Genetics Helping Restore Priestly Lineage Of Levites For Third Temple Service

 JOSHUA MARKS/JNS.ORG

The wind cuts down from the Mount of Olives as three Jewish men named Cohen hunch their shoulders against the cold and start up the wooden ramp to the Temple Mount, breath clouding in the Jerusalem air.

In a scene that could stand in for countless real family journeys, their grandparents' stories trace lines through Poland, Tunisia and Iran, but here the paths merge: walking the worn stone their Israelite forefathers once crossed in white linen, lips shaping the same psalms those priests sang when the Temple still stood and the smoke of offerings climbed into the winter sky.

If this trio had wanted more than a symbolic ascent--if they had wanted to learn how to bless, to sing and to serve as their ancestors once did--they could now find a place to do it.

An emerging effort to revive the Aaronite priests and Levitical assistants of ancient Israel has grown into a nearly 100-strong professional community of Kohanim and Levites in just a month, led by a young Israeli doctor and Temple Mount activist.

Nathan Huberman, 32, a Canadian-born physician, Israel Defense Forces veteran and longtime Temple Mount guide who lives outside Jerusalem, recently talked to JNS about his work turning ancient hereditary roles into a concrete program of training, identity and public engagement.

"These communities are professional communities, founded on four principles," Huberman said. "Identity, an identity that comes with responsibility, knowing the actions you are meant to perform, and setting professional standards for those actions."

Huberman is building two separate but related professional communities rooted in priestly and Levitical identity, each with its own focus and infrastructure.​

The Kohen community operates under Mamlechet Kohanim, which runs a basic training course using life-sized replicas of Temple vessels--including an altar and menorah--and brings in specialists to teach practical workshops. The aim is to grow both the number of participants and their level of professional preparedness for traditional priestly functions.​

The Levite community is organized through the Beyadenu organization and is centered on the Temple Mount, where members ascend to areas permitted under Jewish law and sing, echoing the role of Levites in the ancient Temple ensemble. Huberman is working to formalize this track as well, consulting musicologists and performers from Levitical families to design a dedicated course in Levite liturgical song that is still in development​

Because both groups are identity-based ethnic communities, Huberman says there is significant work to be done in structuring them along traditional lines. He notes that biblical, rabbinic and archaeological sources describe how the Temple workforce was divided, and that some families today claim descent from the Second Temple-era mishmarot, or service divisions.

In theory, he adds, modern genetic research could be used to help sort contemporary priests and Levites into their ancestral family lines, further refining how the two communities are organized.​

"I'm here just connecting dots," said Huberman. "There are people out there doing great work, and these communities invite people to take part in those dots that are already there and connect to them."

The Levi project rests on what Huberman calls a quiet revolution in Jewish access and religious expression on the Temple Mount over the past decade. Where once Jews risked being expelled or even arrested for closing their eyes too long or appearing to pray, he says it is now possible to sing and even dance openly under the eyes of Israeli police without interference.​

The communities' development coincides with cutting-edge research into the Y chromosome of Kohens that, in Huberman's view, could transform how priestly families organize themselves for renewed Temple service. 

More.....

Dmitry Trenin: Russia and the EU drift toward an undeclared war

Dmitry Trenin: Russia and the EU drift toward an undeclared war

RT

A peace agreement on Ukraine that would satisfy Russia is unlikely in 2026. Western European ruling elites, supported by the US Democratic Party and what is often called the ‘deep state’, will likely block Donald Trump’s efforts to reach a settlement acceptable to Moscow. Moreover, Trump himself may harden his position for domestic political reasons: tightening sanctions on energy exports and stepping up measures against the alleged Russian ‘shadow fleet’.

Under such conditions, the Kremlin’s ‘special diplomatic operation’, ongoing since early 2025, may have to be curtailed, while the military operation continues with renewed intensity.

Fighting will likely persist throughout 2026. Russian forces will continue advancing and may reclaim additional parts of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Zaporozhye Region that remain under Ukrainian control. Russia will expand buffer zones in the Kharkov and Sumy directions, with possible advances elsewhere.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces will be forced to retreat. But EU military and financial support, combined with expanded mobilization inside Ukraine, will allow Kiev to stabilize the front and prevent collapse.

At the same time, the conflict will become more brutal. A desperate adversary is likely to attempt bloody provocations intended to destabilize Russian society psychologically. Moscow’s restraint – guided by the principle “we are at war with the regime, not the people” – may be interpreted in Kiev not as moral discipline, but as weakness. This will encourage increasingly daring actions, forcing Russia to abandon certain taboos.

The theater of confrontation will also broaden beyond Ukraine and Russia. Anonymous attacks on tankers carrying Russian oil, as well as strikes deep behind enemy lines, will likely be met with covert retaliatory sabotage against European states participating in the proxy war against Russia. 

Joint actions by Ukrainians and Western Europeans could have more serious consequences, provoking responses beyond Ukrainian territory. The undeclared Russia-EU war will intensify, though a direct, large-scale military clash remains unlikely in 2026.

The current regime in Kiev will likely remain in place through 2026. But a change of leadership is possible. Zelensky could be forced out through a corruption scandal or political maneuvering. In that scenario he may be replaced by a heavyweight such as General Valery Zaluzhny. Or, more likely, by Kirill Budanov, who is on Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists but is considered more flexible.

Ukraine will come under even deeper Western European control. Conditions inside the country will continue to worsen, though the population will not yet experience a mass ‘sobering-up’. The most active part of Ukrainian society remains sharply anti-Russian.

The West of Europe: Liberal globalism, but limited capacity

Western Europe will remain a stronghold of liberal globalism. Despite growing unpopularity, the governments of Britain, Germany and France will likely manage to stay in power through 2026. The ‘change of elites’ that some believe necessary for normalization with Russia will not happen soon, if it happens at all.

The EU are UK are not preparing for war with Russia in the classic sense. Rather, they are preparing for a long military confrontation modelled on the Cold War. This confrontation, framed as defending “European freedom and civilization from Russian barbarism,” has already become the EU’s principal unifying narrative. It will likely endure through 2026.

Yet Western Europe’s practical militarization will probably lag behind last year’s grand declarations. EU states face fiscal constraints. They must compensate for Washington’s unwillingness to fund Ukraine directly. And governments know that cutting social spending sharply risks voter revolt. These realities will restrain militaristic zeal.

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