[News] The global economic benefit from the genocide of Palestinians

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/08/01/the-global-economic-benefit-from-the-genocide-of-palestinians/>
The global economic benefit from the genocide of Palestinians
Ubai al-Aboudi, Vijay Prashad
August 1, 2025
------------------------------
[image: IOF-in-Jabalia.jpg]

Israeli forces in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, one of
the most fiercely targeted areas. Photo: IDF Spokesperson / Wikimedia
Commons

On June 16, 2025, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of
Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, Francesca
Albanese, published
<https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur>
a new report titled *From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide*.
Spanning over thirty-nine pages, the report indicts several major
multinational corporations of profiting from the  occupation and genocide
of Palestinians. Among the implicated are familiar names: Amazon,
Blackrock, Google, Lockheed Martin, and Volvo. Each of these firms, and
many universities (particularly the Massachusetts Institute for
Technology), have differential investments in the displacement of
Palestinians and their replacement by Israeli settlers. Albanese ends her
report with reasonable requests: stop profiting from the genocide and cut
ties with Israel.

On July 9, the United States State Department sanctioned
<https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/07/sanctioning-lawfare-that-targets-u-s-and-israeli-persons>
Albanese for her work, which prevents
<https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14203-imposing-sanctions-the-international-criminal-court>
her from any access to her own property in the United States. The US State
Department claimed
<https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/07/sanctioning-lawfare-that-targets-u-s-and-israeli-persons>
that “Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for
terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West”.
The United Nations responded that this imposition of sanctions sets a
“dangerous precedent”. “The use of unilateral sanctions against Special
Rapporteurs or any other UN expert or official is unacceptable,” said
<https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165359> UN Spokesperson Stéphane
Dujarric. Albanese is not the first person to be sanctioned in this way. In
June 2025, the US sanctioned
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/international-criminal-court-deplores-new-sanctions-us-administration-against-icc-officials>
International Criminal Court judges based on the same US Executive Order.

The furore around US sanctions against high United Nations officials and
its institutions distracts people from the fundamental arguments laid out
in the report by Albanese and her team. It is almost as if US Secretary of
State Marco Rubio decided to use the sanctions weapon to make it the
centre of attention. In many ways, Rubio succeeded. The central argument of
the report was set aside, as the main issue became whether or not it was
acceptable for the United States to sanction UN officials.
*Genocide in the clouds*

Albanese’s report indicates that several major multinational firms are
involved in profiting from the genocide. These firms are from the following
areas: construction, education, finance, service provision, and weapons
production. There are names one would expect: the major arms manufacturers,
such as Lockheed Martin. A full list
<https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-companies> of these arms companies is
maintained by the American Friends Services Committee (AFSC). The AFSC
section on Amazon is worth reading:

Israeli military intelligence uses AWS [Amazon Web Services] servers to
store masses of intelligence information on almost everyone in Gaza. Since
2021, Amazon has been providing cloud services to the Israeli government
under Project Nimbus, a USD 1.2 billion contract it shares with Google. It
provides cloud services to all branches of the Israeli government,
including the military, the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak/”Shin Bet”),
Police, and Prison Services; weapons manufacturers Israel Aerospace
Industries and Rafael; and government agencies related to Israel’s illegal
settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank.

Albanese’s report mentions Project Nimbus and informs us that it is mainly
funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Then her report dives deeper:

Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon grant Israel virtually government-wide
access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing
data processing, decision making and surveillance and analysis capacities.
In October 2023, when the Israeli internal military cloud overloaded,
Microsoft, with its Azure platform, and the Project Nimbus consortium
stepped in with critical cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Their Israel-located servers ensure data sovereignty and a shield from
accountability, under favourable contracts offering minimal restrictions or
oversight. In July 2024, an Israeli colonel described cloud tech as a
weapon in every sense of the word, citing these companies.

It is clear that these tech companies not only provide information for the
Israeli occupation and genocide, but they also provide a “shield from
accountability” since they protect key information that would be actionable
in an international war crimes tribunal. Albanese referred to Colonel
Racheli Dembinsky, the commander of Israel’s Center of Computing and
Information Systems, which provides data processing for the Israeli armed
forces. At a conference called *IT for IDF* at Rishon Lezion, near Tel
Aviv, Colonel Dembinsky said <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLBDfnZJrC8>
that Israel’s army relied upon the cloud storage and artificial
intelligence services from these multinational tech giants (which, in her
lecture slides, are Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft
Azure). Colonel Dembinsky stated
<https://www.google.com.hk/url?q=https://www.972mag.com/cloud-israeli-army-gaza-amazon-google-microsoft/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1753947615739081&usg=AOvVaw1FEsdPpOSdcEWnH_KV5Jav>
that her army unit – known as Mamram – used an “operational cloud” in its
internal servers that she said is a “weapons platform”. There is no public
information of the total amount that these firms have made from the
genocide.

In 2024, employees from Amazon and Google created the No Tech for Apartheid
<https://www.notechforapartheid.com/> campaign. At an event in New York, as
Barak Regev of Google Israel was speaking, a Google employee interrupted
him and said <https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T26lLzrS_mg>, “I am a Google
Cloud software engineer and I refuse to build technology that powers
genocide, apartheid, or surveillance.” Scores of Google engineers were
fired for their association with the No Tech for Apartheid campaign. It has
not stopped the group from organizing more protests.
*The blind one*

In 2003, Peter Thiel and others founded a tech company called Palantir. The
name comes from *Lord of the Rings* and refers to the crystal ball that can
see from afar. Thiel, a deeply conservative libertarian who fundamentally
believes in “Western Civilization”, made his money in PayPal and Facebook
before entering the highly lucrative world of military and intelligence
contracts (Palantir’s first major investor was the Central Intelligence
Agency’s venture capital firm In-Q-Tel). In 2015, Palantir began to do
business in Israel, particularly with its military and intelligence
complex, by providing data integration, data analysis, and the use of
artificial intelligence. In December 2023, during the first phase of the
Israeli genocide, Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp told
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e6K2ea_e7k> Fox Business, “We are well
known in Israel.”

On January 12, 2024, Palantir formed a partnership with the Israeli
military industry to assist in the genocide. Palantir’s Executive Vice
President Josh Harrish said
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-12/palantir-israel-agree-to-strategic-partnership-for-battle-tech?embedded-checkout=true>
at that time, “Both parties have mutually agreed to harness Palantir’s
advanced technology in support of war-related missions.” The phrase
“war-related missions” is straight-forward and could otherwise be described
as genocide, which is exactly what the International Court of Justice called
<https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447> it on January 26, 2024. Palantir’s
TITAN system is being
<https://www.business-humanrights.org/es/%C3%BAltimas-noticias/palantir-allegedly-enables-israels-ai-targeting-amid-israels-war-in-gaza-raising-concerns-over-war-crimes/>
used for precision targeting, which – given the number of civilian
casualties in Gaza – has been precise in the murder of non-combatants. On
April 30, 2025, at the Hill & Valley Forum, Palantir’s CEO Karp was asked
about the death of Palestinians, and he answered that
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=uQCazCId_9o> Palantir had been
responsible for killing “mostly terrorists, that’s true”. This is, of
course, not true, since most of the people killed in Gaza have been
civilians (it would be useful to look at the overall data
<https://www.ochaopt.org/data/casualties> on Palestinian death tolls since
2008, held by the United Nations; if all those killed had been part of
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, then these groups would have been an even more
formidable armed force). Based on Karp’s comments at the 2024 meeting in
Tel Aviv and at the 2025 Hill & Valley Forum, Albanese’s report concludes
that they are “indicative of executive-level knowledge and purpose
vis-à-vis the unlawful use of force by Israel, and failure to prevent such
acts or withdraw involvement”.

As news reports have come out of the association of Palantir with the
deportation of migrants from the US, protests have mushroomed
<https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zN-s_zPBcVk> across the United States at
Palantir offices. These protests link the genocidal work of Palantir
against the Palestinians and the collaboration with the US state to deport
migrants.
*Profiting off the occupation*

For decades now, investigators with the United Nations and other groups
(including Palestinian organizations) have documented the way in which
corporations have profited off the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
According to a conservative estimate by UNCTAD
<https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/a77d295_en.pdf>, Israel
generates USD 41billion annually from its direct exploitation of the West
Bank (around 7% of Israeli GDP). This does not take into account other
indirect benefits that emanate from having a captive population to exploit.

In 2020, the United Nations published <https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/43/71>
a database of companies that had been profiting from the illegal settlement
activity in the West Bank. Most of the companies in the database had their
domicile within Israel, but many were multinational corporations. The
familiar ones included Airbnb (United States), Booking.com (Netherlands),
Expedia (United States), TripAdvisor (United States), General Mills (United
States), and Motorola (United States). The WhoProfits website
<https://www.whoprofits.org/>, meanwhile, not only has an accurate database
of firms involved in profiteering from the genocide and the occupation, but
it also produces important reports on specific areas of activity – such as
its 2024 report
<https://www.whoprofits.org/publications/report/172?greenwashing-dispossession-the-israeli-renewable-energy-industry-and-the-exploitation-of-occupied-natural-resources>
on *Greenwashing Dispossession: The Israeli Renewable Energy Industry and
the Exploitation of Occupied Natural Resources*. The Don’t Buy Into
Occupation coalition’s report
<https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023_DBIO-III-Report_11-December-2023.pdf>
from December 2023 lists European financial firms and their profitable
tentacles within the illegal Israeli settlement project.

On June 10, 2025, the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Sadaka Ireland,
and al-Haq (Palestine) brought
<https://www.glanlaw.org/single-post/multi-jurisdictional-legal-action-airbnb>
a series of lawsuits in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States
against Airbnb for its operations in the Occupied Palestine Territory. In
2018, Airbnb said <https://news.airbnb.com/listings-in-disputed-regions/>
that it would “consider the impact we have and act responsibly”, but it
then reversed course and – as GLAN notes – “continues to list over 300
accommodations listed for rent” in the West Bank. These three organizations
argue that one of the crimes here is the “money laundering by Airbnb of
proceeds of Israeli war crimes.” These are serious charges, particularly in
Ireland and the United Kingdom, which have strong money laundering
legislation. GLAN’s senior lawyer, Gerry Liston said
<https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/airbnb-faces-multi-jurisdictional-legal-actions-over-alleged-profiting-from-rentals-in-illegal-israeli-settlements/>,
“These are the first ever cases to apply anti-money laundering legislation
in the UK and elsewhere to business activity in the illegal Israeli
settlements. They demonstrate that senior executives of companies profiting
from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory risk prosecution for a
very serious criminal offense.”

The impact of these companies profiteering from occupation is not limited
to the income they generate at the expense of Palestinians, but they also
contribute to land grabbing and environmental pollution. One example is the
Geshuri
<https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2813%2962601-X>
agrochemical company, which affects indigenous Palestinian communities in
Tulkarem and leads  to higher rates of cancer, asthma, and eye and
respiratory health anomalies. This example is unfortunately not unique in
the West Bank as Israeli companies profiteer
<https://www.alhaq.org/cached_uploads/download/alhaq_files/publications/Environmental.Injustice.Report.En.pdf>
from extractive and polluting practices across the West Bank.

Having a captive population with no rights to experiment on has proven to
be a valuable resource for the development of intrusive espionage
technologies. A prime example is the Pegasus
<https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/pegasus-project> spyware, which
was developed in close cooperation between the Israeli army infamous
intelligence unit 8200, Israeli academia, and private capital. This spyware
was used by repressive governments globally to crack down on dissidents
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-57891506> with over 50,000 people targeted.

According to the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement
<https://bdsmovement.net/news/call-from-palestine-unite-against-cyber-surveillance-repression>
(BDS), “In 2020, Israeli cyber firms received
<https://whoprofits.org/flash-report/repression-diplomacy/> approximately
31% of global investment in the sector. Acquisitions of Israeli cyber
companies generated some USD 4.7 billion, and Israeli cyber exports stood
at USD 6.85 billion. Israel has become a leader in the spyware and
surveillance market
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israel-s-cyber-spy-industry-aids-dictators-hunt-dissidents-and-gays-1.6573027>,
providing data collection and processing expertise, including spyware,
facial recognition, “user tracking tools” used for policing, electoral
manipulation, and more.
*Genocide gentry*

The focus on senior executives is notable. A new project, Genocide Gentry
<https://genocidegentry.org/>, focuses directly on the senior executives of
weapons manufacturers (Boeing, Elbit Systems of America, General Dynamics,
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX – formerly Raytheon). These are
the main defense contractors for the US Pentagon. The group – developed by
the open-source online platform LittleSis <https://littlesis.org/> – names
the senior leadership of these firms, tracks their connections to other
corporations, and then finds their linkage to cultural institutions. It is
these institutions that are the weakest link in the chain, since they do
not like to be associated directly with genocidal corporations even if they
need the money.

Genocide Gentry offers a simple three-step strategy:

   1. Better understand your city/university/workplace’s connection to
   genocide. Their database helps track whether a member of a weapons company
   sits on a board of institutions in a city.
   2. Identify cultural and educational institutions in your community with
   ties to weapons companies.
   3. Utilize the profiles of board members and donors to specific examples
   of how local institutions are linked to the war machine.

Here’s an interesting example: Kathy Warden is the CEO of Northrop Grumman
and on the board of directors of Catalyst <https://www.catalyst.org/>, a
global nonprofit that helps build workplaces that “work for women”. UN Women
estimates
<https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/news/2025/05/un-women-estimates-over-28000-women-and-girls-killed-in-gaza-since-october-2023>
that at least 28,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza by weapons –
some of them from Northrop Grumman, and UN Women warns
<https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/statement/2025/07/un-women-statement-on-the-escalating-humanitarian-catastrophe-in-gaza>
that a million women and girls are facing starvation in Gaza due to the war
machine fuelled by Northrop Grumman. So much for Catalyst’s “brand” of
standing for women.

There are successes to this strategy. In early 2024, activists began to
pressure musicians who had been slated to play at the South by Southwest
SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. In March, Ella Williams (who plays as
Squirrel Flower) announced that she would not go to SXSW because it was
sponsored by arms manufacturers. On Instagram, she wrote
<https://www.instagram.com/sqrrlflwr/p/C4GwcwVu-gp/?hl=en>, “SXSW is
platforming defense contractors including Raytheon subsidiaries as well as
the US Army, a main sponsor of the festival…. Genocide profiteers like
Raytheon supply weapons to the IDF, paid for by our taxes. A music festival
should not include war profiteers. I refuse to be complicit in this and
withdraw my art and labor in protest.” Seventy-nine other performers
decided to boycott the festival. By June 2024, SXSW said
<https://genocidegentry.org/2024/08/14/sxsw-drops-u-s-army-and-weapons-manufacturers/>
it would cut its links to the US Army and to Raytheon (RTX).

What is evident as the genocide continues, is that there are vested
interests of big investors to protect their profits that result from the
continued occupation of Palestine. The situation is grim and ugly, but
there is now sufficient evidence – such as from – Albanese’s report – of
the wretchedness of Zionism’s occupation of Palestine and its treatment of
Palestinians. There is also plenty of indisputable evidence that reveals
how corporations and their technologies have been used to repress
Palestinians, and continue to find their way to be used globally. This
evidence must be acted upon, either by international bodies, by courts, or
by public opinion. Silence is not an option.

We are not free until everyone is free.

*Ubai al-Aboudi** is the Director of the Bisan Center for Research and
Development (Ramallah, Palestine). **Vijay Prashad** is an Indian
historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief
correspondent at Globetrotter. He is an editor of* *LeftWord Books*
<https://mayday.leftword.com/>* and the director of* *Tricontinental:
Institute for Social Research* <https://thetricontinental.org/>*. He has
written more than 20 books, including* *The Darker Nations*
<https://smile.amazon.com/Darker-Nations-Peoples-History-Third/dp/1595583424/?tag=alternorg08-20>*
and* *The Poorer Nations*
<https://smile.amazon.com/Poorer-Nations-Possible-History-Global/dp/1781681589/?tag=alternorg08-20>*.
His latest books are* *On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and
Struggle* <https://thenewpress.com/books/on-cuba>* (with Noam
Chomsky),* *Struggle
Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism*
<https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1869-struggle-makes-us-human>*, and
(also with Noam Chomsky)* *The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and
the Fragility of US Power* <https://thenewpress.com/books/withdrawal>*.*

*This article was produced by* *Globetrotter* <https://globetrotter.media/>*
and* *No Cold War.* <https://nocoldwar.org/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20250802/09d69b47/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: IOF-in-Jabalia.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 376821 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20250802/09d69b47/attachment-0001.jpg>