President Donald Trump‘s suggestion that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will lead reconstruction efforts in Gaza has unleashed a flood of criticism among the red-green alliance of liberals and Islamists. Press reports suggest Blair will lead the Gaza International Transitional Authority, which will oversee Gaza for five years under a United Nations mandate. The Gaza plan will build on the precedents that led to both East Timor and Kosovo’s independence.

As word of Blair’s proposed role leaked, his detractors argued his tenure during the 2003 Iraq War should disqualify him. He is “regarded by many in the Arab world and in the United Kingdom as a ‘war criminal,'” Al Jazeera wrote. George Galloway, a former British parliamentarian and an Iraq War critic, posted, “Once it was clear that Satan was fully occupied elsewhere Tony Blair was the obvious choice to govern Gaza ….” “War criminals are proposing a war criminal a head (sic) of … Gaza. It would be precious comedy if it were not so tragic,” former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis quipped. “War criminals are proposing a war criminal a head [sic] of … Gaza.” The belief that former President George W. Bush and Blair’s lies caused a million Iraqi deaths is received wisdom on Ivy League campuses.