UN experts are asking businesses to cut ties with Israel and take responsibility for profiting from crimes, including illegal occupation, apartheid and massacre, Middle Eastern Eye reported Tuesday.
The UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s call to action appears in a tough new report named more than 60 companies, including major technology companies such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft, claiming to be involved in “a change in Israel’s occupying economy into the economy.”
“By shedding light on the massive genocide on the political and economics of the profession, the report reveals that forever occupation has become an ideal testing ground for arms makers and major technology.
“Too many influential corporate entities remain closely financially bound by Israeli apartheid and militarism.”
The detailed, 24-page report scheduled to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday identifies dozens of business officials, including those involved in the military, technology, construction and energy sectors.
They range from companies the report says are destroying Palestinian life, including arms companies Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin, to heavy machinery manufacturers whose machines are used in building illegal Israeli settlements such as Caterpillar and HD Hyundai.
“Unique Test Ground”
The report also focuses on the historical and current roles of technology companies, which say they benefited from the “unique testing grounds” in the occupying territories, highlighting the “gradual automation” of Palestinian oppression.
When Israel’s internal military cloud overloaded in October 2023, Microsoft Azure and Project Nimbus Consortium were run by Google and Amazon.
The report also focuses on AI systems developed by the Israeli military, processing and generating targets during the war with Gaza, pointing to the cooperation between Palantir Technology Inc and Israel before October 2023.
“There is reasonable ground for us to believe that Palantir offers automated predictive policing technology, a core defense infrastructure for the rapid and expanded structure and deployment of military software, and an artificial intelligence platform that enables real-time battlefield data integration for automated decision-making,” the report states.
The 48 companies named after them said they were “formally informed of the facts” that led the Albaneseans to make her allegations. Their replies have not been published.
Middle East Eye is seeking comment from all companies listed in this article.
Lockheed Martin told Mee that foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions and therefore suggested that the US government is best suited to answer questions about the report.
However, the companies are “the tip of the iceberg,” the report said, adding that Albanese’s office has developed a database of a total of 1,000 entities from submissions received at the invitation to input the investigation.
The report also finds that the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has risen 179% and added a market value of $157.9 billion since the start of Israel’s attack on Gaza.
Israel’s mission told Reuters that the report was “legally unfounded, defamatory and terrible abuse of her office.”
Albanese is calling on UN member states to suspend all trade agreements and investor relationships regarding non-Parliamentary or organizations that place sanctions and full arms shelter on Israel and endanger Palestinians.
She also says that the International Criminal Court and the National Judiciary should pursue investigation and prosecution of business executives and organizations because of “their role in the laundry of International Crime Commissions and revenue from those crimes.”
The United Nations for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese, speaking in the Hague in February 2025