The genocide unfolding in Gaza is being sustained by corporate interests. In this episode, we unmask the corporations and governments underpinning Israeli occupation by diving into the findings of a landmark report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

Since the assaults on Gaza began, the Tel Aviv stock exchange has risen by 179%. Titled "From economy of occupation to economy of genocide," the report identifies corporations across sectors profiting from or contributing to Israel’s crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. These businesses – from weapons manufacturing and tech to finance, construction, and academia – are complicit in structural human rights violations, including apartheid, annexation, and genocide.

Business and human rights scholar Manpreet Kaur Kalra is joined by Lydia de Leeuw, researcher and strategic litigation lead at SOMO, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations. Together, they delve into the report’s findings on how corporations are enabling, sustaining, and profiting from genocide in Gaza. Their conversation explores the broader implications for international law and emphasizes the urgent need for binding, enforceable mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for their role in human rights violations.

During this episode, we examine:

• The findings of the UN report and what they reveal about profit-driven complicity in genocide
• What legal mechanisms are proposed and available to hold corporations and their executives accountable
• The U.S. government’s unprecedented response and what it signals
• How this moment fits into the broader conversation of corporate accountability for human rights abuses abroad

Resources & References

• UN Report: From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide
• Economic Sanctions Now: the EU is Israel’s largest investor by SOMO
• Business as usual in Palestine? by SOMO

The complicity of corporations in international crimes is not accidental, it's structural. The economies of occupation and genocide are deeply intertwined. This episode exposes an entire economy and profit-making industry built on dispossession, surveillance, and militarized control, enabled by some of the most powerful companies in the world. Without enforceable accountability, corporate actors will continue to profit from the destruction of Palestinian life. The call is urgent—complicity must end and those responsible must be held to account.

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Thank you to our producer, Aly Honoré, and editor, Steven Blevins. The music featured in the podcast was created by Katrina Zemrak.

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