Business and profit drive Israel’s genocide in Gaza, says UN report

Business and profits of weapons manufacturers, tech giants, financial institutions, construction and energy firms etc. have soared since October, 2023 when Israel launched its latest war on Palestine, states a new report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

Albanese did not even spare universities like MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for their collaboration with the military-industrial complex of Israel and pointed out that banks have collaborated with Israel by bankrolling defence purchase and purchase of Israeli bonds.

“This is not business as usual. My new UN report, 'From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide', shows how corporations have fuelled and legitimised the destruction of Palestine. Genocide, it would seem, is profitable. This cannot continue…” she said while calling for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and calling upon the corporate sector to pull up the errant companies and ensure their accountability for violating international law.

“In the past 21 months, the Tel Aviv stock exchange soared by 213 percent (USD), amassing $225.7 billion in market gains — including $67.8 billion in the past month alone,” she added while addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The report named companies supplying F-35s, drones, and targeting technology that enabled 85,000 tons of bombs — six times the load dropped on Hiroshima — to be unleashed on Gaza.

The report also highlighted tech giants that have set up R&D hubs and data centres in Israel, using Palestinian data for AI warfare, fuelling what Albanese called a "livestreamed genocide".  

Prolonged occupation and repeated military campaigns have provided testing grounds for cutting-edge military capabilities: air defence platforms, drones, targeting tools powered by Artificial Intelligence and the F-35 programme led by the United States of America. These technologies are then marketed as “battle-proven”, the report says.

Israel has also benefited from defence procurement programme for the F-35 fighter jet, led by United States-based Lockheed Martin, alongside at least 1,650 other companies, including Italian manufacturer Leonardo. Components and parts constructed globally contribute to the Israeli F-35 fleet, which Israel customises and maintains in partnership with Lockheed Martin and domestic companies.

Israel was the first to fly the F-35 in combat, in 2018, and to use it in “beast mode”, in 2025. Lockheed Martin F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, pivotal to the Israeli air force, have significant carrying and fire capacity, including GBU-31 joint direct attack munition (JDAM) and unguided MK-84s 2000-pound bombs; an F-35 can carry over 18,000 pounds of bombs.

Post-October 2023, F-35s and F-16s have been integral to equipping Israel with the unprecedented aerial power to drop an estimated 85,000 tons of bombs, much of it unguided, to kill and injure more than 179,411 Palestinians and obliterate Gaza.

Consulting firms, as well as arms dealers, agents and brokers, suppliers such as the Japanese FANUC Corporation provide robotic machinery for weapons production lines, including for Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin. Shipping companies such as the Danish A.P. Moller and Maersk A/S supplied transport components, parts, weapons and raw materials, sustaining a steady flow of United States-supplied military equipment post October, 2023.

Albanese said in her brief remarks that initially she attributed global indifference to the plight of Palestinians to ignorance. However, she now attributes it to the drive for business and profit besides promoting the ideology of apartheid.

The 65 per cent surge in Israeli military spending from 2023 to 2024 — amounting to $46.5 billion, one of the highest per capita worldwide — generated a sharp surge in the annual profits of Israeli companies, ensuring gains by their shareholders. Foreign arms companies, especially producers of munitions and ordnance, have also profited.

The genocide in Gaza is, therefore, likely to continue since the world is indeed greedy for profit.