UN expert says firms 'profiting' from 'genocide' of Palestinians

UN rights expert Francesca Albanese on Thursday denounced companies she said "profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide", in a report that provoked a furious response from Israel.

Some of the companies named in her report also raised objections.

Albanese presented her report, investigating "the corporate machinery sustaining the Israeli settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians", to the UN Human Rights Council.

Companies should stop all business activities and relationships that caused or contributed to rights violations and international crimes, she argued.

In response, Israel's mission in Geneva said Albanese's report was motivated by her "obsessive, hate-driven agenda to delegitimise the state of Israel".

It was "legally groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of office", it added.

Swiss mining and commodity trading giant Glencore, named in the report, also denounced her allegations as "unfounded".

- Machinery of erasure' -

Albanese is the UN's special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

She described the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as "apocalyptic" as she presented the report.

"In Gaza, Palestinians continue to endure suffering beyond imagination," she added.

Businesses from arms makers to supermarkets and universities had facilitated "this machinery of erasure", Albanese told the UN's top rights body.

Some had supplied the financial and general infrastructure for Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories, she said.

"All have helped entrench apartheid and enable the slow, inexorable destruction of Palestinian life."

Her presentation Thursday was received with applause in the chamber.

But Albanese has faced harsh criticism, allegations of anti-Semitism and demands for her removal, from Israel and some of its allies, over her relentless criticism and long-standing accusations of "genocide".

While appointed by the Human Rights Council she does not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.

- 'Profited from the violence' -

Albanese told journalists she had contacted all 48 companies named in her report, entitled "From economy of occupation to economy of genocide".

Eighteen had responded and "only a small number engaged with me in good faith", most of them saying "there was absolutely nothing wrong".

"There have been people and organisations who have profited from the violence, the killing," she said.

"My report exposes a system, something that is so structural and so widespread and so systemic that there is no possibility to fix it and redress it: it needs to be dismantled."

Albanese said the first responsibility to take action was on countries, then on companies, then their consumers.

However, "we are part of a system where we are all entangled and choices that we make... have an impact elsewhere", she said.

"There is a possibility for consumers to hold these companies accountable, because somewhat we vote through our wallets."

- 'Unsubstantiated' -

AFP sought a comment from several companies named in the report. Some did not respond.

Travel platform Booking.com said: "Our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world and as such we believe it's not our place to decide where someone can or cannot travel."

A communications firm representing Microsoft said the tech giant "doesn't have anything to share".

Danish shipping giant Maersk said it disagreed with many of Albanese's assertions.

Maersk "remains committed to following international standards for responsible business conduct", it said.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas began, "we have maintained a strict policy of not shipping weapons or ammunition to Israel", it added.

A Volvo Group spokesman told AFP: "We obviously respect human rights in accordance with the United Nations framework.

"We have no operations of our own, either in Palestine or in Israel, but rather sell through resellers," he added.

Glencore, in its response, said: "We categorically reject all the allegations appearing in this report and consider them unsubstantiated and devoid of any legal basis."

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that prompted the Israeli offensive resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,130 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged in the territory since October 2023.

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