UN expert Francesca Albanese called on companies to sever ties with Israel and hold their executives accountable for enabling and benefiting from its crimes, including illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories.
UN Special Rapporteur Albanese's call for action comes in a scathing new report naming more than 60 companies, including major tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, accusing them of complicity in what she calls "transforming Israel's occupation economy into a genocidal one."
Albanese writes in the report, which was reviewed by Al-Quds newspaper and its website: “By shedding light on the political economy of an occupation that has turned into a genocide, the report reveals how the permanent occupation has become an ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and major technology companies... while investors, private and public institutions, reap huge profits.”
A very large number of influential business entities remain closely financially tied to Israel's apartheid and militarism.
The detailed 24-page report, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, identifies dozens of corporate actors, including those operating in the arms, technology, construction, and energy sectors, which it says are complicit.
These companies range from companies the report says are destroying Palestinian lives, including arms companies Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin, to heavy equipment manufacturers whose machines are used in the construction of illegal Israeli settlements, such as Caterpillar and Hyundai.
The report also focuses on the historical and current role of technology companies, which it says have benefited from the "unique testing ground" in the occupied territories, highlighting how the oppression of Palestinians has become "increasingly automated."
It's worth noting that in October 2023, when Israel's internal military cloud load increased significantly, Microsoft and the Project Nimbus consortium, run by Google and Amazon, stepped in to provide critical cloud and AI infrastructure, according to the report.
The report also focuses on the artificial intelligence systems developed by the Israeli military to process and generate targets during the war on Gaza, noting the cooperation between Palantir Technology Inc. and Israel dating back to before October 2023.
The report added: "There is good reason to believe that Palantir has provided automated predictive policing technology, the essential defense infrastructure for building and deploying military software quickly and scalably, and its proprietary AI platform, which enables the integration of real-time battlefield data for automated decision-making."
The report added that 48 of the companies mentioned were "informed of the facts" that prompted Albanese to make her allegations, and 15 of them responded directly to Albanese's office, and their responses were not published.
But these companies are "just the tip of the iceberg," the report said, adding that Albanese's office has created a database of a total of 1,000 entities from the memos in a call for contributions to the investigation.
The report also found that since the start of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has risen by 179%, adding $157.9 billion to its market capitalization.
Albanese calls on UN member states to impose sanctions and a complete arms embargo on Israel, and to suspend all trade agreements and investor relations with any individuals or entities that endanger Palestinians.
It also says the International Criminal Court and national judicial bodies should continue investigations and prosecutions of corporate executives and entities "for their role in committing international crimes and laundering the proceeds of those crimes."
شارك برأيك
Albanese: Tech companies and large corporations profit from Israel's "genocide economy."