A United Nations expert has called on dozens of multinational companies to stop doing business with Israel, warning them they risk being complicit in war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Francesca Albanese, presenting her report to the UN human rights council, described what she called “an economy of genocide” in which the conflict with Hamas provided a testing ground – with no accountability or oversight – for new weapons and technology.
Israel has rejected her report as “groundless”, saying it would “join the dustbin of history”.
UN experts, or special rapporteurs, are independent of the UN, but appointed by it to advise on human rights matters.
Ms Albanese is an international lawyer from Italy, and she is known for her bluntness; in previous reports she has suggested that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
On Thursday she repeated that claim, accusing Israel of “committing one of the cruellest genocides in modern history”.
In this report Ms Albanese names companies she says are profiting from, and therefore complicit in, war crimes in Gaza.
Her list includes arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin for selling weapons, and tech firms Alphabet, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon for providing technology which allows Israel to track and target Palestinians.
She also lists Caterpillar, Hyundai, and Volvo, which her report claims have supplied vehicles used for demolishing homes and flattening bombed communities.
Financial institutions are included too – Ms Albanese claims banks BNP Paribas and Barclays have been underwriting Israeli treasury bonds throughout the conflict.
The BBC has approached the companies named above for comment.
Lockheed Martin said foreign military sales were government-to-government transactions, and discussions were best addressed by the US government.
Volvo said it did not share Ms Albanese’s criticism which it believes was based on “insufficient and partly incorrect information”. It added that it is committed to respecting human rights and constantly works to strengthen its due diligence. But it said that since its products have a long life and change hands often “there is unfortunately a limit to how much control or influence we can have on how and where our products are used during their lifetime”.
For the companies named, the business is lucrative, the report says, and helps Israel to continue the war. Ms Albanese says all the companies should stop dealing with Israel immediately.
But how likely is that? UN reports like this one have no legal power, but they do attract attention.
Ms Albanese is, in targeting economic ties, trying to remind multinationals, and governments, of what happened with apartheid South Africa.
For a while many businesses made good money trading with South Africa, but the injustice of apartheid attracted global condemnation and UN sanctions which forced disinvestment and, eventually, helped to end the apartheid regime.
By listing companies which are household names, Ms Albanese is probably also hoping to provide millions of consumers worldwide with information they can use when choosing whether or not to buy something, as they did with South Africa.
But the suggestion they are complicit in possible genocide is the one the multinationals themselves may take most seriously. The law on genocide is strict, it needs to be determined by a court of law, and in fact the International Court of Justice is currently considering a case against Israel on this very question, brought by South Africa.
Complicity is defined as a person or entity having engaged in actions whose foreseeable results may have contributed to genocide, but without having personally intended to commit genocide.
This is an accusation that Ms Albanese suggests could be levelled against businesses selling anything that might contribute to Israel’s war effort. It is known that international lawyers have privately advised European governments that continued arms sales to Israel may lead to charges of complicity.
Israel, which has long accused Ms Albanese of being extremely hostile to it, and even antisemitic, has rejected her latest report as “groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of office”.
Israel denies genocide, claiming the right of self-defence against Hamas.
But when Ms Albanese presented her report to UN member states, she received primarily praise and support.
African, Asian, and Arab states backed her call for disinvestment, many agreed that genocide was taking place, and some also warned Israel against vilifying international lawyers like Ms Albanese for doing their job.
European states, traditionally more supportive of Israel, also condemned the denial of aid to Gaza, and said Israel had a legal responsibility, as the occupying power, to ensure Palestinians had the means to survive.
But Israel’s biggest ally, the United States, left the UN Human Rights Council when President Donald Trump took office in January. Washington’s response to the report has simply accused Ms Albanese, whose team contacted US companies for information about their dealings with Israel, of an “unacceptable campaign of political and economic warfare against the American and worldwide economy”.
It’s unlikely the US administration will pay much more attention to the words of one international lawyer. But the big US companies named in her report, listening to the condemnation from so many countries where they have financial interests, may start to question their ties with Israel.
