Rabat – Amnesty International has issued a stark warning that Israel’s prolonged genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, its decades-long unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories, and its entrenched apartheid system are being sustained by a global network of states, institutions, and corporations.
The organization’s new briefing identifies urgent measures that governments and companies must take to end their complicity in the ongoing genocide against humanity.
‘Human dignity is not a commodity’
At the core of Amnesty’s call is the indictment of an international system that has privileged profits and trade over Palestinian lives. Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard did not mince words:
“It is beyond time for states, public institutions, companies, universities and other private actors to end their lethal addiction to economic gains and profits at all costs. While Palestinian mothers in Gaza are left to watch their children waste away from starvation under Israel’s genocide, arms companies and others continue to reap substantial profits.”
Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime have never been self-sustaining. Instead, they have relied on “in-depth and sustained” support through military supplies, surveillance tools, and economic partnerships.
The organization pointed to the past 23 months of relentless bombardment of Gaza as a brutal reminder that Israel’s capacity for mass violence depends on foreign enablers.
Corporations complicit in Israel’s crimes
The briefing names 15 companies across different sectors as directly linked to Israel’s violations.
They include major US arms producers Boeing and Lockheed Martin, Israel’s own Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), as well as global players such as Hikvision (China), Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles – CAF (Spain), HD Hyundai (South Korea), and Palantir Technologies (US).
Amnesty documented how Boeing-made bombs and guidance kits, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions and GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs, have been used in Gaza airstrikes that killed scores of civilians, including children.
Lockheed Martin’s fighter jets form the backbone of the IOF. Israeli arms firms Elbit and Rafael continue to deliver drones, loitering munitions, and surveillance systems that directly fuel Israel’s operations.
Other sectors are implicated as well. Mekorot, Israel’s state-owned water company, discriminates against Palestinians by diverting resources to illegal settlements. CAF builds the Jerusalem Light Rail project, serving settlement expansion. HD Hyundai provides heavy machinery used to demolish Palestinian homes. Surveillance technology providers Hikvision and Corsight supply the systems enabling Israel’s apartheid rule.
“These corporations must fulfil their human rights responsibilities or face consequences for their actions,” said Callamard. Amnesty warned that executives and board members risk civil and even criminal liability for aiding Israel’s crimes.
The UN deadline: ignored and defied
Amnesty timed its report to coincide with the one-year anniversary of a UN General Assembly resolution passed on September 18, 2024. That resolution demanded that Israel end its occupation of Palestinian territory within 12 months, implementing the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled that Israel’s occupation is unlawful and its policies amount to apartheid.
The deadline expired this week. Yet, Israel continues its genocidal campaign in Gaza, systematically starving the population, and intensifying settlement activity in the West Bank.
Amnesty condemned most UN member states for their “indefensible inertia,” warning that by failing to act they risk complicity in genocide, apartheid, and other crimes under international law.
The ICJ has issued multiple orders, January, March, and May 2024, calling on Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. All have been disregarded. “The 12-month deadline has passed, but the killing, the starvation, and the occupation continue unchecked,” Amnesty declared.
Amnesty’s urgent calls to states and institutions
The organization outlined a series of steps that states must take to break the cycle of complicity:
- Ban arms transfers: Immediate suspension of all arms, military, security, and surveillance equipment to Israel.
- End preferential trade: Suspend trade deals and investment flows that sustain Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.
- Sanctions and accountability: Impose travel bans and asset freezes on individuals and entities maintaining Israel’s apartheid and occupation.
- Divestment: Urge universities, pension funds, and public institutions to withdraw investments from companies enabling Israel’s crimes.
- Cut privileges: Bar complicit corporations from contracts, research grants, trade shows, and government partnerships until they can prove compliance with international law.
Amnesty further demanded that states ensure companies operating under their jurisdiction cease activities that support illegal settlements and military occupation.
Corporate responses: denial and deflection
Amnesty contacted all 15 companies it identified in its briefing. Only five replied. Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest arms exporters, dismissed Amnesty’s concerns, claiming it operates legally by supplying “a sovereign, unsanctioned government, recognized by the international community.”
For Amnesty, such arguments miss the point. Supplying weapons and technology to facilitate genocide, mass killing, and systematic racial segregation cannot be justified by invoking recognition of state sovereignty. The organization noted that international law prohibits complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity, regardless of political recognition.
“Unfathomable suffering” in Gaza
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza notes the urgency of Amnesty’s demands. Families are displaced again and again under constant bombardment. Mothers watch their children die of hunger and disease. Hospitals operate without electricity or medicine. Entire neighborhoods have been leveled.
Amnesty argues that this devastation is not only the result of IOF, but also of a global economy that provides the means and shields Israel from accountability.
“It is unacceptable that states and companies are aware that their revenues come from death, destruction and immense suffering of Palestinians, yet they have decided to look away,” said Callamard.
The organization urged civil society worldwide to mobilize, campaign, and pressure governments to comply with their obligations under international law. “We cannot allow the immense, unfathomable suffering of the Palestinian people to be ignored for a minute longer,” Callamard concluded.
A growing consensus on genocide
The ICJ ruled in January 2024 that Israel’s genocide in Gaza posed a “real and imminent risk”, ordering urgent preventive measures.
Amnesty and other human rights groups have since concluded that Israel is committing genocide. By December 2024, experts across the international community increasingly acknowledged this assessment.
Despite these findings, IOF’s operations have escalated, while global powers continue to provide arms, diplomatic cover, and investment. Amnesty’s report makes clear that without dismantling the political economy of complicity, Israel’s genocide and apartheid will persist.
