A last-minute plan by US President Donald Trump to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a multinational Gaza summit in Egypt was aborted after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened to withdraw. Erdoğan stated he would not land his plane in Sharm el-Sheikh if Netanyahu's invitation stood.
The mid-air power struggle began after Netanyahu accepted a late invitation from Trump to the conference, jointly chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Netanyahu's presence had been sealed in a phone call between Trump and Sisi from Israel on Monday morning.
It remains unclear if Erdoğan's refusal to attend caused Netanyahu to change his plans, but Netanyahu spoke to Sisi from his plane over Egypt to raise objections. A statement from the Israeli prime minister's office said Netanyahu thanked Trump for the invitation but declined due to the proximity to the start of a holiday.
Figures on the extreme right of Netanyahu's coalition government had also threatened to resign if he attended. International Criminal Court arrest warrants have been issued against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza, and while Egypt is not a signatory, his presence would have been contentious among Arab states that have not normalised relations with Israel.
More than 20 world leaders were due to attend the hastily arranged summit. The row over Netanyahu's presence highlights the difficulty of normalising relations between some Muslim countries and Israel, as desired by Trump. For Erdoğan, who has repeatedly called Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide, any negotiation or handshake with Netanyahu would have been domestically disastrous and could have jeopardised Ankara's planned role in an international stabilisation force for Gaza.
