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<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">\u2018Unjustified Attacks\u2019 \u2013 Arms Trade Experts Back Albanese\u2019s Latest Report</h1>September 17, 2025</div>
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<img src="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Albanese_Report_PC.png" alt="" title="Albanese_Report_PC" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="422" height="283" style="margin-right: 25px;">
UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanese. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)
<p><strong>By <a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff" title="Display all articles for Palestine Chronicle Staff">Palestine Chronicle Staff</a></strong> </p>
<blockquote>
<h3>The arms experts stressed the report\u2019s significance at a time when
Albanese faces what they described as \u201cunprecedented and unjustified
attacks\u201d from the US and Israeli governments.</h3>
</blockquote>
<p>More than 20 leading global arms trade experts have expressed their
full support for UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, describing as
\u201caccurate and extremely important\u201d her recent report on the role of
companies in Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide in Gaza.</p>
<p>\u201c\u2018From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide\u2019 is a forensic,
detailed, accurate and extremely important report which lays bare
corporate complicity in the ongoing genocide,\u201d the experts <a href="https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/statements/arms-trade-experts.pdf">said</a> in a statement on Tuesday released by Shadow World Investigations.</p>
<p>They stressed its significance at a time when Albanese faces what
they described as \u201cunprecedented and unjustified attacks\u201d from the US
and Israeli governments.</p>
<p>\u201cRather than attack this crucial report and its esteemed author,
these states, and all countries, should urgently apply and enforce all
arms export controls, which must lead to an immediate cessation of arms
sales to Israel while the genocide continues,\u201d the experts said.</p>
<h4>\u2018Measured in Human Lives\u2019</h4>
<p>Albanese\u2019s report identifies both Israeli and Western defense
corporations as complicit in the assault on Gaza. It also points to
technology companies such as Palantir, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet
for providing services enabling surveillance, targeting, and military
operations.</p>
<p>\u201cThe trade in weapons is described as a business that counts its
profits in billions while its losses are measured in human lives,\u201d the
statement said.</p>
<p>It added that nowhere has this been \u201cmore starkly seen than during
the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza with the active participation of
Western governments and their weapons manufacturers, the tech companies
and assorted other private corporations.\u201d</p>
<p>These manufacturers, the experts said, have experienced a significant
rise in profits and share prices, \u201cwhile tens of thousands of
Palestinians have been slaughtered using their products.\u201d</p>
<p>They said Albanese\u2019s report \u201cidentifies the complicit traditional
weapons manufacturers, as well as the technology companies whose
involvement in warfare generally, and specifically surveillance and
targeting, has grown exponentially: while Israeli companies Elbit
Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) feature prominently, so
too do Western arms behemoths, Lockheed Martin and the Anglo-Italian
company Leonardo, along with many others who provide the military
matériel that has caused the killing fields of Gaza\u201d.</p>
<h4>\u2018Web of Intermediaries\u2019</h4>
<p>In addition, as the report makes clear, they continued, \u201cthese
companies allow their products to be \u2018battle-tested\u2019 in the occupied
Palestinian territory (oPt), and base their subsequent marketing
strategies on the devastating harm caused.\u201d</p>
<p>It also points to \u201cthe web of intermediaries who make this trade in
weapons possible, from the legal, auditing and consulting firms, and the
arms dealers, agents and brokers to the robotics suppliers like
Japanese FANUC Corporation, and logistics providers like A.P. Moller \u2013
Maersk A/S.\u201d</p>
<p>The report also highlights the role of financial institutions, energy giants, logistics providers, and consultancies.</p>
<p>\u201cTech companies especially have become central to conflict,\u201d the statement noted.</p>
<p>It stated that in the context of Gaza, Palantir has been central to
the specific targeting of individuals, families and groups. Many others,
including IBM, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, \u201cprovide a variety of
services to the Israeli military that assist in the perpetration of the
genocide.\u201d</p>
<h4>US Sanctions Condemned</h4>
<p>The report, the experts said, suggests that \u201cin excess of 1,650
private companies are complicit just in the production of a single
weapons system \u2013 the F35 fighter jet. It signals a network of corporate
complicity orders of magnitude greater. This includes financial
institutions, global consultancies, energy, logistics and equipment
companies, including well known entities such as Caterpillar, BNP
Paribas, Barclays, Allianz, Chevron, BP, Petrobras, and A.P.
Moller-Maersk A/S.\u201d</p>
<p>The experts condemned Washington\u2019s move to impose sanctions on
Albanese and to call for her dismissal, describing it as an attempt to
\u201cquash her superb report.\u201d</p>
<p>\u201cIt is unacceptable to us that arms manufacturers, with the support
of their governments, violate their own domestic arms export controls,
regional and international agreements such as the EU Common Position on
Arms Exports and the international Arms Trade Treaty, as well as their
responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights, which implicate the most serious international legal norms. \u201d
the statement noted.</p>
<h4>Call to UN</h4>
<p>The signatories urged the UN to reject calls by the US and Israel for
Albanese\u2019s removal, and reiterated demands for an immediate halt to all
arms transfers to Israel, including weapons, munitions, military fuel,
dual-use items, and logistical services.</p>
<p>\u201cWe demand that arms export controls be applied domestically,
regionally and internationally, which must lead to an immediate
cessation of arms sales to Israel while the genocide continues,\u201d they
stated.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the signatories endorsed the call from The Hague Group
\u201cto prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel,
related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel, including the
transit, docking, and servicing of vessels, and urge all other states
to do the same.\u201d</p>
<p>Starting on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military, with American
support, launched a genocidal war against the people of Gaza. This
campaign has so far resulted in the deaths of close to 65,000
Palestinians, with more than 164,000 wounded. The vast majority of the
population has been displaced, and the destruction of infrastructure is
unprecedented since World War II. Thousands of people are still missing.</p>
<p><em>(PC, Anadolu)</em></p>
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