How did Israeli billionaire Yakir Gabay come to join Trump’s Gaza management body?
The quiet rise of a businessman into one of Washington’s most sensitive policy forums.
How did Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay come to be a member of the body designated by U.S. President Donald Trump to manage the Gaza Strip? Trump revealed on Saturday the members of his "Board of Peace," which is intended to oversee the implementation of the second phase of his plan to end the war in Gaza, including reconstruction and disarmament of the Strip. The council will include, among others, Trump himself, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, the U.S. president's special envoy for all matters, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
At the same time, Trump announced another body, operating below the Board of Peace but above the technocratic Palestinian government already declared, which is supposed to manage the territory in place of Hamas. According to the White House announcement, this interim body will be called the "Gaza Executive Board" and will include, among others, Gabay, Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, American-Jewish billionaire Marc Rowan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and the head of Egyptian intelligence, Hassan Rashad.
Gabay’s business activities, with a fortune estimated at $4 billion according to Forbes, are focused on real estate, mainly in Europe, the UK, and the U.S. (Miami, New York, San Francisco). Through these investments, he became acquainted with Blair and Kushner, who heads the private equity fund Affinity Partners, which has raised significant sums from sovereign wealth funds in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. Gabay moved his business activities to Europe 20 years ago and is registered as a citizen and resident of Cyprus, so that taxes on profits are paid there.
Over the past two years, Gabay has been seen dining with Kushner in Tel Aviv, and Blair was the guest of honor at Gabay’s son’s bar mitzvah. Gabay also has a close acquaintance with Witkoff. Through Kushner, Gabay met Trump and socialized with him at IAC (Israel-America Council) events, a networking body for American Jews, before the November 2024 presidential election.
Gabay has spoken with Kushner and Blair over the past two years about rebuilding Gaza, and even prepared a detailed plan with other businessmen, which he shared with both. A source involved in the matter told Calcalist: “He believes that with the disarmament of Hamas, a necessary condition for any future progress, there is an opening for regional peace, and not just a localized one in Gaza. But Gaza is the key.”
In an official statement, Gabay said: ““It is a great honor for me to be appointed by U.S. President Trump as a voluntary board member of the Board of Peace for Gaza," Gabay commented on the appointment.
"I thank President Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for the trust they have placed in me. I intend to work with my fellow board members to implement the U.S. president’s vision of development, construction, prosperity and a free economy in the Gaza Strip, and to expand the Abraham Accords to additional countries. The complete disarmament of Hamas is a precondition for implementing the development plan. We will continue our utmost efforts to bring Border Police officer Ran Gvili home for burial in Israel.”
In the business world, Gabay is known as the largest shareholder (15%) in the German real estate firm Aroundtown, one of Europe’s largest income-generating property companies, traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at a value of €4.1 billion. Over the past year, its stock traded largely unchanged, but in the five years following a major merger, it lost about 55% of its value.
At the end of 2019, Aroundtown, then fully controlled by Gabay, merged with TLG, a European real estate company owned by Israeli businessman Amir Dayan. The merger created a European real estate giant valued at €13 billion, though its value has since declined due to the coronavirus pandemic, rising interest rates, and broader changes in the German economy.
Gabay also has a real estate operation in the U.S., managed by Tzachi Hara, and was previously a partner of Yitzhak Tshuva in Star, which invested primarily in Miami and held a portfolio of 14,000 apartments. The company was sold in 2019 for $1.85 billion. Additionally, Gabay invests in venture capital funds and technology companies through his family office, with stakes in hundreds of high-tech firms. He is also developing a power plant in Greece with an investment of hundreds of millions of euros and a total capacity of approximately 900 megawatts, comparable to Israel’s Dalia power plant and twice that of the Reading power plant.
Gabay, an accountant and economist by training, is the son of Meir Gabay, former Director General of the Ministry of Justice. He began his career as an investment banker, serving as CEO of Bank Leumi’s underwriting company in the mid-1990s until 1999. After leaving, he brokered a deal for brothers Eddie and Jules Trump (no relation to President Trump), third cousins of his wife, to acquire control of the underwriting and investment firm Gmul from several provident funds and Bank Hapoalim. Following the deal, the Trump brothers appointed Gabay chairman and granted him a 13% stake, providing him with the initial capital to build his business empire. At the time, Gmul also owned companies including Shufersal, Gazit Globe, TAYA Communications, Ness Technologies, Crow Technologies, and the brokerage Gmul Sahar.
The Trump brothers, originally from South Africa, built their fortune in the U.S. through retail, chemicals, communications, real estate, and financial services. The Gmul acquisition marked their first significant foothold in Israel’s capital market, after failed attempts to partner with Moti Zisser and Yitzhak Tshuva. Shortly after the acquisition, Gmul was floated at a valuation of half a billion shekels, giving Gabay’s holdings a value of 65 million shekels. Three years later, Gabay began establishing his European real estate operations, first in Germany and later expanding to the Netherlands. He operated through two companies: Grand City Properties (housing) and Aroundtown (income-generating real estate). Grand City was floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2012 and Aroundtown in 2015 at €1.6 billion, before the 2019 merger with TLG.
