Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has called on the international community to sever all trade and financial ties with Israel. She stressed that the severance should include an end to international aid to Israel and a comprehensive arms embargo on the country.
Speaking at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, Albanese called the Israeli economic system an “economy of genocide.”
She presented her new report at the session. It analyzes how international corporate institutions are acting as a supporting force for Israel’s occupation and settlement plans.
The report highlights how arms manufacturers, technology companies, heavy equipment manufacturers and various financial institutions are directly or indirectly involved in Israel’s violence and repression. Some are helping to establish illegal settlements, some are providing surveillance technology, and some are directly supporting the killing of Palestinians.
Albanese said that Israel’s oppression in the occupied Palestinian territories has now become one of the most brutal genocides in history. While political leaders are avoiding responsibility, corporations are profiting from this occupation and bloodshed.
The report calls for these profit-making institutions to be held accountable and says that it is necessary to take strong legal action against those involved in violating international law.
Speaking to reporters after the speech, Francesca Albanese said that there are many individuals and institutions that are profiting from the violence, destruction and killing in Gaza and other occupied territories.
She said that in the 21 months since the Gaza war began, prices on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange have increased by at least 200 percent, adding more than $220 billion to the market. Meanwhile, the Palestinians are struggling to survive in a miserable state.
Albanese said, one nation is prospering, another is being wiped out. It is clear that for some, genocide is also a profitable business.
The UN report said that Israel’s military-industrial sector is the center of its economy. The long-term occupation and military campaign have turned the country into a weapons testing laboratory.
He said that Israel has made record profits as a result of the advanced weapons that various arms manufacturers have supplied to it. With those weapons, Israel has dropped about 85,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip – six times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.