PM Netanyahu declines Trump invite to regional summit in Egypt due to reported concern for coalition stability

Hours before the start of the "Peace Summit" in Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also invited but announced that he would not attend the summit.

According to sources who spoke with Kan News, the Prime Minister feared a crisis with the ultra-Orthodox parties if he were to fly during the holiday.

A senior figure in the United Torah Judaism party stated: "Netanyahu is not canceling the trip because of the Haredim. He's just putting the blame on us for something he can't handle himself."

The official statement from the Prime Minister's Office read: "Prime Minister Netanyahu was invited by U.S. President Trump to participate in a summit taking place today in Egypt. He thanked President Trump for the invitation but said he would not be able to attend due to the close timing with the start of the holiday."

Netanyahu’s invitation followed a conversation between him and Egyptian President el-Sisi, the first conversation between the two since the outbreak of the war.

The Office of the Egyptian President had already released an official statement: "President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will participate in the Peace Summit, to establish the ceasefire in Gaza and emphasize the commitment to it."

The office also confirmed the phone conversation between the two leaders.

The summit will be hosted by Egypt and will include the participation of Arab and European countries, while the Americans are overseeing the event and its invitees. Trump is expected to be the “star of the event.”

As noted, representatives from Israel or from Hamas were not initially invited. The Palestinian Authority was invited yesterday, reportedly following pressure on "relevant Arab actors."

U.S. President Donald Trump did not know that Netanyahu was not invited to the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit, and came up with the invitation during the shared limousine ride from the airport to the Knesset — according to a report today by the American website Axios.

According to the report, Trump said that the Egyptians were the ones responsible for issuing the invitations.

During their ride to the Knesset in the presidential limousine, President Trump told the Prime Minister that he should participate. The source said that Netanyahu agreed.

A senior U.S. official said that following this, President Trump began mediating between President el-Sisi and Netanyahu, who had not spoken since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

President Trump called the Egyptian president and asked him to invite Netanyahu to the summit. Shortly after, President el-Sisi called Netanyahu and invited him, and Netanyahu accepted the invitation.

Summary of Participants in the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit scheduled for tomorrow:
At the head of the summit will be, as mentioned, U.S. President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

From the United States will also attend: Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan "Razin" Cane.

From European countries: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; French President Emmanuel Macron; UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer; Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis; Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides; Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

From the Arab world, the following are expected to participate: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad; Jordan’s King Abdullah II; Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa; Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani; UAE Vice President Mansour bin Zayed; Kuwaiti Prime Minister Ahmad al-Sabah; Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi.

Other representatives from participating countries: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Indonesian Prime Minister Prabowo Subianto; Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev; Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan; Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif; Indian Deputy Foreign Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh; the Japanese Ambassador to Cairo.

Other dignitaries include UN Secretary-General António Guterres; President of the European Council, António Costa; Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Egyptian media reported that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are also expected to attend, though this has not yet been confirmed by those countries.

Saudi Arabia was invited and will participate, though it is unclear at what level.
Iran was also invited and declined the invitation.