Israel is considering hiring former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair as humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, the major Israeli news agency Ynet hinted on Nov. 12, saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes Blair’s diplomatic experience in the region will lend legitimacy to Israel’s military campaign and quell international demands for a ceasefire amid a massive humanitarian crisis and thousands of civilian deaths. As for diplomatic “experience,” Blair served as envoy to Israel and Palestine for the Middle East Quartet, made up of the U.S., EU, UN, and Russia, from 2007 on, after stepping down as U.K. prime minister.
The exact definition, authority, and scope of Blair’s proposed role have yet to be determined, but it would focus on “providing medical treatment and medicines, and on the possibility of evacuating the wounded and sick from the [Gaza] Strip,” according to Ynet. So far, Blair has not been given an official Israeli mandate for Gaza, though. (EIR considers that Blair’s name popping up now, may have a broader background, beyond the reported interest by Netanyahu.)
RT reports that Blair released a statement on X in the days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, declaring that “decades of conventional Western diplomacy around the Israeli/Palestinian issue will need to be fundamentally re-thought,” because the status quo had only led to “grief and tragedy” for both Israel and Gaza.
