Financial Times published [an article](https://www.ft.com/content/0b1bc761-c572-4b61-882a-fb4467259dcd ) yesterday reporting on the involvement of the Tony Blair Institute in discussions with the Boston Consulting Group on U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed project to turn Gaza into a Riviera on the Eastern Mediterranean. The plan outlined in a slide deck, seen by FT, was led by Israeli businessmen and used financial models developed inside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to “reimagine” Gaza as a thriving trading hub. Titled the “Great Trust” and shared with the Trump administration, it proposed paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and attracting private investors to develop Gaza.
While the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) did not author or endorse the final slide deck, two staff members at the former U.K. prime minister’s institute participated in message groups and calls as the project developed, people familiar with the work told FT.
The TBI document said the devastating war in Gaza, a war of genocide, in fact, had “created a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from first principles … as a secure, modern prosperous society.”
TBI denied having any involvement in the composing of the BCG slide deck. The Tony Blair Institute told FT that Blair had sought a “better Gaza for Gazans” for the past two decades: “It has never been about relocating Gazans, which is a proposal TBI has never authored, developed or endorsed.”
TBI also denied being involved in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operation. FT notes that Phil Reilly, an ally of the businessmen who now run security operations for GHF, courted Tony Blair at a March meeting in London. TBI said that Reilly, a former CIA officer and BCG adviser, had requested the meeting. “Again, Mr Blair listened. But as you know, TBI is not part of GHF.”
