Countless comments have been made since the publication of the Report “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide” by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, the international lawyer Francesca Albanese serving in this duty since May 2022. Regrettably in the present social and communicative polarization, this document, or rather its signatory, received great appreciations and fierce criticism, so that the author herself has incurred in personal sanctions issued by the US government. However, the United Nations replied with an eloquent statement: silence is not an option.
AMU also believes that we cannot remain silent: that severe and documented violations of the most basic principles of international law (humanitarian and law of war) which occur with increasing intensity and breadth will certainly be judged by the history. As already occurred in the previous century: silence means complicity. But even more, we owe it to the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian victims facing brutal and sophisticated forms of genocide, without the international community being able to put an end to these spooky practices. For this reason we hope that the responsibilities of both the direct authors and the possible accomplices will be judged by the competent international court as soon as possible.
There is no room here to go into the details of the report, which highlights the complicity of companies and financial institutions in this execrable process of extermination, but there are some statements that deserve to be mentioned (I suggest anyway to read the full text):
14. … The post-Holocaust industrialists’ trials … laid the groundwork for recognizing the international criminal responsibility of corporate executives for participation in international crimes.
16. … International humanitarian law and criminal law also confer specific obligations and liabilities on private actors, with domestic jurisdictions primarily responsible for enforcement.
23. … The corporate sector has materially contributed to this endeavour by providing Israel with the weapons and machinery required to destroy homes, schools, hospitals, places of leisure and worship, livelihoods and productive assets, such as olive groves and orchards, to segregate and control communities and to restrict access to natural resources. By helping to militarize and incentivize illegal Israeli presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, the corporate sector has contributed to the creation of the conditions for Palestinian ethnic cleansing.
For us consumers, it is significant the paragraph “Civilian guise: heavy machinery in service of settler-colonial destruction”, where well known brands of vehicles and other common products of our daily life are mentioned:
65. Israeli products, including those from colonies, flood global markets through major retailers, often with no scrutiny. To dodge growing backlash, companies mask origin through misleading labels, barcodes and supply-chain mixing, effectively making occupation shelf-ready.
67. In many countries, no distinction is made between products from Israel and those from its colonies. Even in the European Union, where labelling is required, these goods are still allowed on the market, and the responsibility is put on uninformed consumers. Given the illegality of the colonies under international law, these products should not be traded at all.
Also the paragraph “Financing the violations” calls our responsibility as “small investors”:
77. Sovereign wealth and pension funds are also significant financiers. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, claims it has the world’s most comprehensive ethical guidelines. After October 2023, the Fund increased its investment in Israeli companies by 32 per cent to $1.9 billion. By the end of 2024, the Fund had $121.5 billion – 6.9 per cent of its total value – invested in companies named in the present report alone …
79. This direct investment is buttressed by the choice of financial advisory companies and responsible investment associations to not consider human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory in their assessment of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. This allows responsible/ethical investment funds to remain environmental, social and governance compliant despite investing in Israeli government bonds and in shares of companies involved in violations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
And the conclusions:
87. While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, the present report shows why the genocide carried out by Israel continues: because it is lucrative for many. By shedding light on the political economy of an occupation turned genocidal, the report reveals how 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. Too many influential corporate entities remain inextricably financially bound to Israeli apartheid and militarism.
Trought this simply comments, AMU aims to contribute for focusing the attention on the merits of the report, and not fuel the controversy of those who are for or against the rapporteur or the body of the UN that has commissioned this study.
And just to clarify, our opinion is not at all a negative one against the population of the State of Israel, rather against the actions in contempt of international law perpetrated by its current government. As we have already written on another occasion, an angry and disproportionate reaction to what happened on 7 October 2023 (we also condemn it) is not acceptable for a member state of the UN community, and cannot justify the patent violation of the rules of international civilization arduously achieved after the tragedy of World War II.
We express our closeness and solidarity to all the victims of the ongoing genocide, as also to those who have been torn away from their loved ones and taken hostages, and we commit ourselves personally and on behalf of AMU to support reconciliation and a just and lasting peace.
Stefano Comazzi – AMU President