Blair dismisses rumour of role in Israel’s ‘voluntary resettlement of Gazans’

The Tony Blair Institute has denied the rumour that the former British prime minister is being linked to a “role” in the “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians in Gaza. “The Channel 12 report in Israel linking Tony Blair to a discussion about a ‘role’ in the ‘voluntary resettlement of Gazans’ in Arab and other countries is a lie,” said the institute. “The story was published without any contact with Tony Blair or his team. No such discussion has taken place. Nor would Tony Blair have such a discussion, the idea is wrong in principle. Gazans should be able to stay and live in Gaza.”

The Channel 12 report in Israel linking Tony Blair to a discussion about a ‘role’ in the ‘voluntary resettlement of Gazans’ in Arab and other countries is a lie. The story was published without any contact with Tony Blair or his team. No such discussion has taken place. Nor would… https://t.co/wZ1yumxPiB

— Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (@InstituteGC) January 1, 2024

Israeli media reported that Blair was positioned to execute the final stage of Tel-Aviv’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. The 70-year-old is said to be the ideal candidate to persuade countries to accept Palestinian refugees displaced from Gaza.

Blair is a strong advocate of the apartheid state. He arrived in Israel last week and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, reported Channel 12. The idea of the former Labour Party leader serving as a mediator to resettle Palestinians in what Israelis call “voluntary migration” was said to have been floated.

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If the plan materialises despite the denials by his institute, Blair will be in charge of checking the option of countries to receive Palestinian refugees from the besieged Gaza enclave, where at least 22,185 people have been killed and at least 57,000 injured since 7 October. Almost all of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have fled their homes, clustering in tents and overcrowded parts of the south and central strip that Israeli military officials say are safer, even though they are still bombed by Israel.

With no end to Israel’s brutal killing of Palestinians in sight, and questions being raised over Israel’s end goal, Netanyahu has told members of his party that he’s working to identify countries that are willing to “absorb” Palestinians who want to leave the territory. “Our problem is countries that are ready to absorb,” commented Netanyahu on the plan last month. “We are working on it.”

The plan not only has wide backing from members of his far-right party, but also from Israeli society generally. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was the latest to publicly endorse the plan when he called on Sunday for the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to be “encouraged”.

As a popular figure in Israel, Blair is seen as an obvious candidate by the Israelis to execute the final stage of their plan. He was one of the architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the removal of one of Israel’s greatest foes in the Middle East, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain. After leaving office Blair served as envoy of the so-called Middle East Quartet. In his eight-year spell he worked closely with the Israeli government. In November, the Guardian reported Blair as saying that he is available if needed to help in an effort to end the growing crisis in Israel and Palestine.

Israel’s National Security Minister and convicted racist Itamar Ben-Gvir published a statement on Sunday, welcoming the reports of Blair “heading a task force that will promote the emigration of Gaza residents to other countries around the world.

“This is a morally just step to take, first and foremost for Gaza border residents, and for all of Israel,” said the minister. He added that such initiatives are a “necessary component of the real solution to the ‘day after,’ which Otzma Yehudit [Ben-Gvir’s political party] has been leading.”

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