The genocide industry: UN rapporteur exposes over 60 companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians

The United Nations published a report on Monday, June 30, exposing the involvement of over 60 multinational companies in Israel’s illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, and the ongoing genocide in the besieged Gaza strip.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese built the report from papers submitted by more than 200 sources, including states, human rights defenders, companies, and academics.

From “economy of occupation” to “economy of genocide”

In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, June 3, Albanese pointed out that she could have written the report two years ago, which in turn “would have been a fair exposure of the economy of the occupation”, before Israel started its genocide in Gaza in October 2023.

She argued that the Israeli occupation’s economy consists of “two pillars; a pillar of displacement, and a pillar of replacement held together by an ecosystem of enablers”, including financial actors, institutional actors like universities and even charities.

The UN expert said that this system has turned the occupied Palestinian territories into a “crime scene”, which has the fingerprints of everyone who has chosen to be a customer or an investor in any of these companies. This is also applicable to academics and alumni in universities, which are part of this system, according to Albanese.

The UN official underscored that these companies found in the genocide a more lucrative opportunity, after they have already for long profiteered from the economy of occupation.

Which companies are complicit and in what way?

The companies listed in the report have investments and businesses in multiple sectors including weapon manufacturing, technology, finance, construction, and energy.

The report provided evidence that the named companies have either directly or indirectly contributed to the killing of Palestinian people, the demolition of homes, the expansion of Israel’s illegal settlement, and the annexation of Palestinian lands.

“The forever-occupation has become the ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and Big Tech – providing boundless supply and demand, little oversight, and zero accountability – while investors and private and public institutions profit freely,” the report reads. “Too many influential corporate entities remain inextricably financially bound to Israel’s apartheid and militarism.”

Replacement of Indigenous Palestinian people with illegal settlement

The UN report provides detailed information on many international corporate entities, who were found implicated in the destruction of Palestinian properties and landscapes, and the construction of illegal settlement projects.

Some of these companies contributed to the replacement process by supplying Israel with heavy machinery that carried out razing, demolition, and construction works in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, including Caterpillar, HD Hyundai, and Volvo.

Online travel and rental platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb have also been involved in “whitewashing settler violence” by promoting settlements as “warm and loving” communities.

The report says that these platforms profiteer from the Israeli occupation by selling tourism, which in turn sustains colonies, excludes Palestinians, and legitimizes the annexation of Palestinian lands.

Meanwhile, US-based Keller Williams Realty LLC has sold properties inside illegal Israeli settlements to Israeli and international buyers.

Even agribusiness corporations have benefited from Israel’s extractivism and land-grabbing, and provided infrastructure to exploit water resources in the West Bank to produce goods and technologies in favor of the Israeli settler-colonial system

Tnuva (majorly-owned by Chinese Bright Dairy & Food Co. Ltd), and Netafim, which is a manufacturer of irrigation equipment (80% owned by Mexico’s Orbia Group), were referred to in the report for their involvement in Israel’s replacement and displacement violations against the Palestinian people.

Military industry and Big Tech in service of the genocide

The report listed Lockheed Martin, Leonardo S.p.A, and Elbit Systems as main suppliers of fighter jets, drones, and other weapons used in Israel’s aerial assaults against the Palestinian people, not only during the 21-month genocidal aggression on Gaza, but during previous military campaigns in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Japanese FANUC Corporation has also been involved by providing robotic machinery for weapons production lines.

Meanwhile, Big Tech companies, including Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, IBM, and Palantir Technologies are accused of providing Israel with cloud computing, surveillance systems, and artificial intelligence tools to monitor, detain, and target Palestinians.

Financial institutions that funded the ongoing genocide

As per the report, financial institutions like BNP Paribas, Barclays, Pimco, Blackrock, and Vanguard provided “critical capital and resources” to both state and corporate actors that supported Israel’s occupation and apartheid across the occupied Palestinian territories, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Drummond Company Inc, Swiss Glencore plc, Chevron, and BP were identified in the report as primary suppliers of oil, natural gas and coal, which “fuelled Israel’s energy-intensive genocide”.

Dealing with Israel may amount to complicity in an international crime: Albanese warns

The UN Special Rapporteur warned that the companies named in the list are “obliged both to avoid violating human rights law and to address human rights violations resulting from their own activities or their business relationships with others.”

Albanese also urged member states to hold companies involved in violations of international law accountable by imposing a full arms embargo and suspending trade and investment agreements with Israel. She insisted that companies must respect human rights even if the countries where they operate violate them.

“Any dealings that support or sustain the occupation and its associated apparatus may amount to complicity in an international crime under the Rome Statute,” Albanese warned.