Board of Peace Hires Greenspan to Secure $14 Billion Gaza Plan Funding

The Board of Peace, a body tasked with securing funding for President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, has appointed Shelley Greenspan to lead congressional outreach. She will assume the senior position next week, reporting to senior advisers Josh Gruenbaum and Aryeh Lightstone. The organization is seeking bipartisan support for both the board's operations and the 20-point plan.

Greenspan's mandate is to secure backing for the initiative beyond the current administration. The strategy aims to prevent the plan from lapsing after President Trump's term, specifically seeking commitments from a future Democratic president to continue the work if one is elected in 2028. The Board of Peace stated that sustained congressional support is essential to its operations.

Greenspan previously served as Joe Biden's liaison to the Jewish community, a role appointed in 2022. Her background includes service at the State Department and the National Security Council, where she focused on global partnerships. Earlier in her career, she worked on Hillary Clinton's presidential research team, spent time at AIPAC, and held policy roles at technology companies including Amazon.

"At the State Department, I worked to advance the President's vision for peace and prosperity in the Middle East and saw how the President's 20-Point Plan can tangibly deliver for the peoples of Gaza and Israel," Greenspan said in a statement. She added that she looks forward to continuing that work with the board.

The appointment draws on the precedent of the Abraham Accords, agreements announced in 2020 to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Following President Biden's inauguration in January 2021, his administration did not advance new normalization agreements. It was not until June 2023 that Secretary of State Antony Blinken appointed Dan Shapiro as a special envoy for expanding the accords.

Several prominent Democrats have recently expressed support for the 20-point Gaza peace plan, including former US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and former senior Biden adviser Brett McGurk. Hillary Clinton wrote in the Financial Times that the plan "is not the one many of us would have drafted, but it remains the only framework backed by sufficient leverage, political engagement and potential resources to move the parties towards implementation."

The Board of Peace cited Greenspan's experience in Democratic and Republican administrations as the basis for her appointment. The organization stated that Greenspan is "uniquely capable" of leading the effort to secure the necessary congressional funding.