Tony Blair Institute linked to Gaza plan condemned as ethnic cleansing: Report

Middle East Eye

7 hours ago

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has been linked to a project widely condemned for proposing the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, involving a sweeping postwar redevelopment of the besieged Strip.
Plans include a "Trump Riviera" and infrastructure named after wealthy Gulf monarchs, according to documents reviewed by the Financial Times (FT) and revealed on Sunday.
The vision, outlined in a slide deck titled The Great Trust, was created by a group of Israeli businessmen with support from consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
BCG's plan assumed that at least 25 percent of Palestinians would leave "voluntarily", with most never returning. It remains unclear whether Palestinians would have any choice in the matter, but the proposal has been widely condemned as ethnic cleansing of the territory's indigenous population.
The project aimed to transform the enclave which has been reduced to rubble by Israel into a lucrative investment hub. Central to the proposal were blockchain-based trade schemes, special economic zones with low taxes, and artificial islands modelled on Dubai's coastline.
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Although TBI insists it neither endorsed nor authored the slide, two of its staff members participated in discussions related to the initiative.
The Tony Blair Institute was founded by the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2016 to allegedly promote global policy reform and combat extremism.
One internal TBI document — titled Gaza Economic Blueprint— circulated within the project group, outlined ambitious economic and infrastructural proposals.
These included a deep-water port linking Gaza to the India-Middle East-Europe corridor and visions for artificial islands off the coast.
This picture taken from a position on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, shows an Israeli vehicle returning from the besieged Palestinian territory on July 1, 2025 (AFP)
Significantly, unlike the Israeli businessmen's proposal, the TBI document did not suggest relocating Palestinians — a notion backed by US President Donald Trump and condemned internationally as a plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
While some ideas overlapped, the Blair Institute maintains it played no role in drafting or approving the BCG-backed presentation.
Initially, TBI denied any involvement, with a spokesperson telling the FT: "Your story is categorically wrong... TBI was not involved in the preparation of the deck.' However, after the FT presented evidence of a 12-person message group that included TBI staff, BCG consultants, and Israeli organisers, the institute acknowledged its staff had been aware of and present during related discussions. "We have never said TBI knew nothing about what this group was working on," the spokesperson clarified.
TBI claims it was in a "listening mode" and that its internal paper was one of many analyses of postwar scenarios being explored.
Blair was on 'listening mode'
The group behind the proposal includes high-profile Israeli tech investors such as Liran Tancman and venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg. Both reportedly played a role in setting up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
GHF's credibility has been marred by controversy. The chaotic rollout of the programme has seen at least 700 Palestinians killed and more than 4,000 wounded by Israeli forces while trying to access aid.
Phil Reilly, whom Middle East Eye previously reported served as a senior adviser at BCG for eight years and began discussing Gaza aid with Israeli civilians while still in that role in early 2024, met with Tony Blair in London earlier this year.
TBI said Reilly requested the meeting and described Blair's involvement as limited: "Again, Mr Blair listened. But as you know, TBI is not part of GHF."
A British charity associated with former prime minister Tony Blair displays a map on its website including the occupied Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of Israel.
Palestinian men carry the body of a person reportedly killed while waiting for aid delivery, outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on July 3, 2025 (AFP)
This is not the first time Blair or his foundation has faced controversy. He serves as an honorary patron of the UK branch of Israel's Jewish National Fund (JNF), which has faced heavy criticism for its activities — including donating £1m to what it described as 'Israel's largest militia' and erasing Palestine from its official maps.
TBI has also received money from a financial fraudster linked with illegal Israeli settlements and an American Islamophobic network.
A source previously told the Financial Times that GHF had received a $100m pledge from an unnamed country.
The 30-page deck, shared with US officials and other regional stakeholders, proposed placing Gaza's public land into a trust managed under Israeli oversight until the territory is 'demilitarised and deradicalised'.
Private landowners would be offered digital tokens in exchange for their plots, with the promise of permanent housing.
The proposal listed ten 'Mega Projects', including infrastructure named after Gulf leaders — the 'MBS Ring' and 'MBZ Central' — and aimed to attract major international companies such as Tesla, Amazon, and IKEA. According to BCG's projections, the initiative could raise Gaza's economic value from '$0 today' to $324 billion.