Anthony Albanese has been issued an ‘offer he cannot refuse’ by Donald Trump to help stabilise Gaza during Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The US President is chairing a ‘Board of Peace’ to complete his 20‑point plan for providing strategic oversight and international resources, and to ‘ensure accountability as Gaza transitions from conflict to peace and development’, the White House said.
Trump invited several world leaders to join the board, including Albanese, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al‑Sisi.
But although the invitation arrived by early Monday morning, Albanese was yet to respond, other than to confirm he is considering it.
Asked by the Daily Mail on Tuesday for comment, the Prime Minister’s office deferred to his comments to ABC Sydney on Monday.
‘We’ve received correspondence from the President that arrived, I think, last night,’ Albanese said.
‘That’s something we haven’t had time to consider. We’ll consider all of these approaches respectfully and through our proper processes.’
However, experts have likened the offer to one made in the Hollywood film The Godfather: the prime minister cannot refuse for fear of repercussions.
Donald Trump has offered Anthony Albanese a seat on the ‘Board of Peace’ which will complete his 20-point plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip
Experts have likened the offer to one made in the Hollywood film The Godfather: the prime minister cannot refuse for fear of repercussions (pictured, Marlon Brando in The Godfather)
‘Anthony Albanese being invited to join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is like The Godfather movie, an offer he can’t refuse,’ Michael Shoebridge, director of defence and security think tank Strategic Analysis Australia, told the Daily Mail.
‘If he says no, he’s likely to have Donald Trump act vindictively against Australia.
‘But if he says yes, he’s signing up to a group where Donald Trump gets to decide what they do and what they don’t do.
‘He’s also signing up to handing over, probably, 1.$5billion in the first year for Trump to use as he will.’
The Trump administration has reportedly asked countries to contribute at least US$1 billion to become permanent board members.
The risk, Mr Shoebridge said, is that it will give the US President a ‘reason to victimise’ Australia if Albanese refuses the offer.
‘Accepting means avoiding trouble rather than creating good things,’ he said.
‘It’s a pattern where Donald Trump wants to dictate what others do, and he knows he’s put Mr Albanese in a very awkward position because a refusal will offend.’
Albanese said his office will consider the offer respectfully and through ‘proper processes’
Displaced Palestinian families living in the Beit Lahia area in the northern Gaza Strip try to carry on with their daily lives under harsh conditions amid the rubble left behind by Israeli attacks
Mr Shoebridge said ‘retribution’ can manifest as ‘petulance’ about the refusal to award Trump a Nobel Peace Prize, or through introducing tariffs against European nations and the UK, as he did after they refused to support the US ‘buying back’ Greenland.
‘The problem with opposing Trump as a US ally is that the alliance matters little, but offending him matters a lot,’ he said.
‘I think there’s a high risk that Trump will take it personally if Albanese says ‘no’.’
‘But if Albanese says yes, he knows he’s signing up to some potentially dangerous construct where he’s along for the ride with whatever Trump decides to do next.’
‘Albanese has a bigger problem than whether he says yes or no to the Board of Peace, and that is that Australia’s major security partner is now coercive and unpredictable.’
The offer comes a year after the White House increased pressure on other nations to boost their foreign aid spending.
On day one of his second term, Mr Trump signed a stop‑work order at the world’s biggest foreign aid agency, USAID, and froze its multibillion‑dollar budget.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong marginally lifted Australia’s spending on development assistance at last year’s budget, though not enough to keep pace with inflation.
Lacking basic necessities, the families shelter in makeshift tents set up near their destroyed homes in the northern Gaza Strip
The United Nations Security Council has approved a plan that opens a pathway for an international force to enter the Gaza Strip.
It has also signed off on the Board of Peace to provide oversight of the war-torn territory during reconstruction efforts.
Other members of the board would include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Israel has said it is opposed to some of the world leaders joining Trump’s Board of Peace, although it did not specify which appointees it rejected.
Its government said several of the proposed appointments were ‘not coordinated with Israel and were contrary to its policy’.
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