The Guardian has noted this morning that:
Donald Trump has appointed the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and former British prime minister Tony Blair to a newly created Gaza “board of peace”, a body he claims will steer the next phase of reconstruction and governance in the war-ravaged territory.
The White House said the seven-strong “founding executive board” will also include Trump's special envoy, the property developer Steve Witkoff; the World Bank president, Ajay Banga; and the president's son-in-law and long-time adviser Jared Kushner. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks.
It is very hard to know how to react to such an announcement. At one level, the temptation is to ask "Is he serious?" The disconnect between this suggestion and the reality, where Israel is continuing to attack Palestinians daily, assaulting the Gaza population in their homes, if they still have one, or their tents, more likely, is quite extraordinary. The level of fantasy implicit in what Trump has said seeks to defy any attempt to comprehend it.
Then there is the revulsion I feel. Not a single Palestinian has been appointed to this group. Not one. And every single one of those appointed must have known this. Despite that, they accepted this supposed office. The arrogance in their presumption of entitlement to exercise power over dispossessed people, whose plight they clearly intend to make worse, is on a scale that is very hard to contemplate, let alone understand. Perhaps I am naive, but I honestly thought that the colonial mindset was dying, albeit too slowly for my liking. This is a stark reminder of how wrong I can be, and am in this case.
The Zionism implicit in all the appointments is also telling. I am not and never will be anti-semitic. I can think of no reason or justification for ever being so. Noting that there is a form of toxic Zionist thought that is doing untold harm in the world, as is clear from this announcement, does not contradict that view. It confirms it. It is an opinion shared by many Jews, it would seem, who are repelled by the actions done by the current Israeli government, which clearly does not represent all the residents of Israel, let alone the wider Jewish community, many of who are as appalled as I am by the genocide that has brought us to the point where this so-called "board of peace" can be appointed. Let's be clear what this form of toxic Zionism is: it is toxic, racist, and genocidal fascism that is seeking to "other" and destroy the Palestinian people and their right to live in what is their homeland. There is nothing more to it than that. It cannot be anti-semitic to point that out. It would be anti-semitic to suggest all Jews think this politics justifiable, or supportable, when clearly it is not, and many Jews share that view. My objection to what is happening is all about opposition to toxic Zionism, and has nothing to do with anyone being Jewish, but I know it will be claimed otherwise.
Then, there is the reaction to wait for. I dread Starmer welcoming this, but it can only be time before he does. After the vile treatment of the former Chief Constable of the West Midlands this week, who has been driven out for making a wholly justifiable operational decision in the interests of the wider community in Birmingham, albeit his presentation of the justification was imperfect, I am sure the announcement that the current government of this country supports this move cannot be long in coming. They will not be speaking for me. They will also, I suspect, not be speaking for many Labour supporters.
What to conclude? It seems that we now live in a world where fantasy has greater significance than reality, where real people are now reduced to being expendable objects in the power play of world leaders, and where respect for human rights has ceased, which fact is implicit in the creation of this entity, whose creation can only be justified in terms that deny those rights exist.
Perhaps, most tellingly, what this so-called board of peace represents is the acknowledgement that in the minds of those who think they govern, the right to speak in property and to accumulate profit from doing so is supreme. This board represents the clearest statement that, in the minds of neoliberal leaders, the right to profit from speculation now trumps (pun intended) everything else. To them, people simply do not matter. Their contempt for humanity knows no limits.
This is the politics of might and money gone mad.
No wonder I call for politics of care.
If you want evidence that we need it, this is it.
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Absolutely we need a politics of care. I felt sick when I read that article. It beggars belief to think that this devastated country and people is seen only as an investment opportunity. Meanwhile the Palestinians are still living a nightmare of endless bombardment and deprivation by design, with power failing in hospitals due to lack of fuel for generators – hard to imagine their levels of distress as it is hard to imagine the levels of heartlesness of this disgusting “board of peace”.
Thanks
I don’t think the picture editor likes Tony Blair!
Regarding wealth and power, here’s a bit of MMT encouragement from The Canary, reporting on Jason Hickel.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/01/16/jason-hickel-public-services/
The final sentence goes adrift a bit and sadly, the name check isn’t of Richard, but there is “much to agree with”?
Thanks
Trump thinks he is “winning” appointing a war criminal from the UK on the board. The question is will the Palestinians put up with it?If not they will have to get in slave labour from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc as they do to build new projects in the Gulf states.
Hmmm…
You don’t think the Palestinians have been beaten into submission?
Wait till it comes our way…
Trump is a serial fantasist. He doesn’t think in terms of images and their consequences. He doesn’t speak in a manner which shows that he has planned out our response. He speaks without control like diarrhea. The problem with the media is that they have created the narrative “don’t take what Trump says literally but do take it seriously”. They imply that Trump has a plan and that I am only reacting to his rough edges. While reacting I am wilfully choosing to dismiss the gold that is underneath.
There is no gold. It is all BS.
The Times and Sunday Times have a webpage on Facebook about the retirement of the Chief Constable. A large number of comments are really vindictive calling for his pension to be taken away. He has paid into that, done shifts and probably risked injury in his job serving his community. It would be imposing a huge de facto fine.
A Conservative spokesman on radio 4 was talking about appeasing a violent minority. Looking at the statements made by Reform and other politicians, it seems Islam and Palestine are a modern equivalent of scapegoating the Jews in the 1930s.
And like with the Rothermere press of that era, much of the modern press is supporting it. Hardly a week goes by without a negative headline in the Express, Mail or Telegraph about asylum seekers, migrants or benefit claimants.
We had several retired British generals speaking out against UK support for Israel and how that is seen in the developing world. But it seems only reported in the smaller media platforms.
Finally there is a real issue with foreign influence in our politics-the bots from Russia, Elon Musk and other American billionaires and the Israeli lobby influence on the main political parties. The Far Right now seems to support Isreal, whatever it does -even the mass slaughter of civilians.
We are facing IMO a growing concerted effort to incite hatred and prejudice as a tool to support powerful people and distract the population from calling for change to improve the conditions of the 98%.
Cooke spoke to no Muslims when compiling his report, but to three Zionist organisations. Brum is 20% Muslim, 0.2% Jewish. Guildford made the correct operation decision. The might of Tel Aviv and its owned UK government besmirched the good name of Guildford. The Home Office committee itself admitted 6/8 were ‘Friends of Israel’. Total bias to assuage Bibi. FYI I live just north of Brum, and in my wifes extended family there are numerous Villa supporters, all supportive of Guildfords decision. Who runs this country?
A good last question.
Thank you for this very clear statement Richard. The BBC doesn’t seem to have noticed the lack of Palestinians on this so-called ‘Board of Peace’ and prominent Palestinians have made it clear that Blair has nothing to offer. Yet another colonial project which ignores the reality of life for the Gazans, while Israel continues to steal more of their land as the killing continues and the ‘yellow line’ creeps westwards.
And let’s not forget the ongoing settler violence in the occupied West Bank, and the destruction of Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.
This is not about ‘peace’ – “follow the money”, as the saying goes.
And let’s not forget the Israelis continuing to demolish buildings in the area on “their” side of the “yellow line”.
It is utterly disgusting. And yes I expect Starmer will unquestionably endorse it in his usual style. One political leader who will speak out is Zack Polanski. A Jew who regularly stands with the Palestinian people against the terrible way they are treated by Israel’s far right government with the full endorsement of the US and sadly the UK.
This cannot end well, and I will cry no tears when it does even more damage to Tony Blair’s reputation than his Iraq war. There’s a lot of distraction from the plight of the Palestinians, with Trump’s comments on Greenland etc, but such big egos are never going to be able to work together and when opinion finally turns fully they will jump ship. Let’s hope there is not too much more suffering of innocent people in the meantime.
As much as this opens me up to accusations of anti-semitism, I cannot help but think this is driven by ideas of Manifest Destiny and Lebensraum. And from Trump; Greed. Insane Insatiable Greed.
I often hear the pro Israeli argument: We are not committing a Genocide because if we had wanted to destroy the Palestinians we could have done it many times over by now. My response is that it is better to play a long game and nibble at them, incessantly. Attrition is key. Displace. Build. Displace. Build. That way you can only be accused of ethnic cleansing (which goes unpunished, it seems) and over time, achieve the destruction you seek which, if it were done at once, might cause sufficient outrage to drive opponents to act in a meaningful way against you. Yes, they are both nibbling, but only the state of Israel has the Might to do more. Much more.
Gaza has been razed and is now the subject of a major real estate deal.
Trump doesn’t care about the people of Gaza any more than he cares about the people of Venezuela, Greenland or Minneapolis.
Having the likes of Witkoff without any Palestinian representation suggests this is now, as expected, a real estate deal to him.
I’m waiting for the announcement of moving people out of one of the areas by force and building a high end resort, maybe a golf course, and probably a ballroom.
Might gone mad indeed. 1984 seems almost innocent.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur suggests the following:
1. Impose an arms embargo and cut trade.
2. Break the blockade with your humanitarian navies.
3. Send a protective presence to Palestine to ensure Israel dismantles its occupation NOW.
An absolute witchhunt against the Chief Constable.There was the possibility of large groups of Tommy Robinson followers,local Muslims ,pro Palenstine supporters and Maccabi thugs coming together.
The Chief Constable’s methodology was wrong but the banning was correct.Not mentioned on the TV news was that 2 Israeli league games had to be abandoned because of rioting by Maccabi ‘fans”.As some wag pointed out perhaps the Tel Aviv police are anti- semetic .
In a similiat vein,Starmer wants to hold to account those who prevented the jewish Labour MP,Damien Egan ,from speaking at a Bristol school.There was a proposed demonstration by pro Palenstinian supporters ,so the school called the talk off.
Egan has visited Israel recently and, along with other Labour Friends of Israel,expressed his support for the regime.His husband is alleged to have been a former member of a notorious Israeli spy section,one of its roles being to identify Palestinians to be assassinated.
Two swift inquiries and both in support of this toxic Zionism.
The inclusion of Tony Blair on the Gaza ‘peace group’ is no surprise but just highlights how greedy and amoral this former PM is.
.
Much to agree with, on both issues.
I have the feeling that ghastly Blair will need a hat a lot larger (lots of sizes larger!) after poncing around at this panel. Grrrr! There’s something about him that reminds me of Fawlty Towers – not sure why. “Basil!” ?
Thank you for confirming my gut instinct about the issue over the CC for the West Midlands. Had the world community done what it should have done to other apartheid states and banned Israel from such international competitions, then he would have been spared the trouble he got himself into. I bet the ultra capitalists in football weren’t happy with Craig Guildford either.
The Maccabi fan story seems to have a number of angles and is controversial in itself. So, we’ll have to see what happens next time they play Aston Villa, shall we? Or someone else. Who to believe without taking sides? And who is going to pay the price of giving them the pro-Zionist benefit of the doubt eh, next time?
What happens next in Gaza is going to leave a huge stain on history. What is worrying is that the barefaced attitude to do this that makes this happen at all, and then it becomes fact and then that means it becomes normalised. The rest just becomes cynicism afterwards which is not enough. And so it goes. Having just completed Peter Oborne’s ‘Complicit’, this announcement is the final insult. All I see – with Blair in particular – is sweaty palmed, greedy free market evangelism. Awful.
Gaza is not going to go away. Beach front condos and bars or not, human beings are not going forget, and that make us all being very unsafe indeed.
Looking at this desire by some Jews to have a land of their own driven by the genuine need for safety or just because their holy book plants that idea in them has come at a huge cost world wide. Whether it is seeing the Palestinians treated as they have been from day one; the West’s economies being undermined by oil producing Muslim states helping to bring in opportunist and disastrous Neo-liberal polices to ‘cope’, to what we have seen and will see in Gaza about how unaccountable international power and embedded wealth power actually works. And beneath all this is American expansionism again.
As an atheist all I can say is that it would have been best if we’d just lived side by side in peace. What a disaster; what a tragedy. And maybe, what a comeuppance?
Yuk. Like the old colonialism, though worse in some respects, these people never question that they know best. As far as I know, they’re not even claiming to work in the interests of the Palestinians.
Regarding the comment on “toxic zionism” that it ” does not represent all the residents of Israel,” This is a link to a Haaretz article of June 2025.
https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/poll-show-most-jewish-israelis-support-expelling-gazans
extract: “82% of Israeli Jews support “the transfer (expulsion) of residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries?” No less than 54% of Jewish respondents were “very” supportive”
Toxic zionism is not a view held by ALL the jewish residents of Israel – just 82% of them. By my reading this comes across as “most”.
Middle East Eye:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/majority-israelis-support-expulsion-palestinians-gaza-poll
extract: “47% of Israeli Jews answered yes to the question: “Do you support the claim that the [Israeli army] in conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites did when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, ie to kill all its inhabitants?” The reference is to the biblical account of the conquest of Jericho.”
So that would be 47% of israeli jews are in favour of genocide – again by my reading.
We make the mistake that somehow the Israeli-jewish population are mostly decent people – & they probably are to each other. But when it comes to the Palestinians “toxic zionism” seems to prevail in over 80% of the population and genocidal intent in 47%..
I support the comments by others on this blog on the need for the UK population to regain control of how foreign policy is decided by UK politicos (rather than as at present by politicos in other countries).
Bit let’s be clear Mike, there are people of other opinions. And that is the key point I was making. Uniformity does not exist.
There are no Palestinians on the Gaza “board of peace”, but the representative of the World Bank says it all.
“As the 1970s progressed, neoliberal ideas and policies came increasingly to shape the agendas of international financial institutions, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which imposed neoliberal economics on indebted nations in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In return for debt relief or loans, “structural adjustment programs” were demanded, which included privatization, deregulation, trade liberalization, the abandonment of capital controls, and “fiscal austerity,” which meant slashing state spending on health, education, and other public services. These decisions were imposed without people being given the chance to vote on them: the poorer nations had no choice but to implement them, regardless of what their populations thought.”
Source: The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life) (2024)
by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison, https://amzn.eu/d/hWvMzE6
Agreed
We have just heard Trump is to place a 10% tariff on goods from the countries who have backed Greenland’s freedom to determine their own future. It will rise to 25% in June if there is no resolution. As he seems determined to break international law, it is important we stand up for the principle of that law. ( Putin must be laughing his socks off ) I offer 3 reasons First, a united front of former allies might stiffen the resolve of Americans who share our values Secondly, accepting his terms would make us into vassal states Thirdly, His strategy document of last year said he would support the Far Right e.g. AfD and we know Reform looks to his party for example. If we give in, those parties will be encouraged.
It will not be easy. But time to quote Martin Luther 500 years ago ‘Here I stand, I can do no other.’
I am working on a blog for the morning.
Good. We need your clarity of thought, perhaps like never before. The Western alliance is rapidly being hollowed out and it is no longer safe to assume that NATO will function as intended. It’s virtually impossible to envision reversal unless there is a clear political rupture and renewal in the US.
Trump has no intention of preserving a future for Palestinian people – only to ‘develop’ a billionaire’s playground/resort – get it now?
A complete absence of the one thing that defines any country: the voice of its people expressed through a democratic process. When decisions are made about a population without their participation, you don’t have reconstruction or governance — you have rule by imposition. And no amount of diplomatic language can disguise that.
Taking part in the adminstration of a conquered/occupied territory surely constitutes a war crime?
Leaving the redevelopment of Gaza to the Board of Peace will do nothing for the 2.5 million Palestinians currently living mostly in tents with no clean water or barely/non-functioning health and education services, not to mention the lack of electricity.
The BOP will offer only profitable real estate developments of casinos, hotels, glitzy condos etc way beyond the means of the destitute Palestinian population.
They will likely be crammed into tents and shacks in an increasingly small area whilst the rest becomes a sort of Dubai on the Med.
This scenario seems more than likely a long term strategy to make Palestinian lives intolerable and thus increase pressure on them to leave Gaza for good.
It’s chilling watching Revelations/Armageddon play out from the sidelines. Maybe Gaza will be coming to a neighbourhood near you and I. And yes, Tony Blair does look like a person who has made a pact with the devil.
This all seems in line with the way things are going. Project Sunrise lays out the US Administration’s plans for Gaza, yet it’s not widely covered in the UK press. Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his henchmen are making it quite clear that they will be going back to a full on assault in March to finish what they’ve started. Again, not well reported on in the UK.
Tragically, the future looks very bleak.
Happy to provide links of useful…
I’m overwhelmed by the group of Buddhist monks at present walking from Texas to Washington on a Peace March. They bring me Hope.