I never imagined I would read a report like this in my lifetime, and yet it is in The Guardian, is corroborated elsewhere, and it is about a plan put forward by the Israeli government, with no doubt the backing of others, including Trump and, most likely, connections in the UK:
Israel's defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.
Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel's military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists.
Israeli forces would control the perimeter of the site and initially “move” 600,000 Palestinians into the area – mostly people currently displaced in the al-Mawasi area.
Let's be blunt about this: it is a plan for a concentration camp from which Gazan Palestinians could not ever emerge again, as the plan is laid out. This is not humanitarian. This is about the end game of genocide that has used ethnic cleansing to achieve this goal.
And what is clear is that the world's corporations will be more than willing to lend a hand. As Francesca Albanese notes in her report to the UN in her role as special rapporteur:
FROM ECONOMY OF OCCUPATION TO ECONOMY OF GENOCIDE
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
Summary
This report investigates the corporate machinery sustaining Israel's settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians in the occupied territory. While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel's economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide. The complicity exposed by this report is just the tip of the iceberg; ending it will not happen without holding the private sector accountable, including its executives. International law recognizes varying degrees of responsibility – each requiring scrutiny and accountability, particularly in this case, where a people's self-determination and very existence are at stake. This is a necessary step to end the genocide and dismantle the global system that has allowed it.
That report is staggeringly important. It states that it is not just governments and those who have served in them, including those of the UK, who should be accountable for their actions, but corporations should be too. As she notes towards the end of the report, in what might be framed as a part of her conclusion:
While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel's genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many. By shedding light on the political economy of an occupation turned genocidal, the report reveals how the forever-occupation has become the ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and Big Tech – providing boundless supply and demand, little oversight, and zero accountability – while investors and private and public institutions profit freely. Too many influential corporate entities remain inextricably financially bound to Israel's apartheid and militarism.
And its message is clear:
Arms companies have turned over near record profits by equipping Israel with cutting-edge weaponry that has obliterated a virtually defenceless civilian population. The machinery of global construction equipment giants has been instrumental in razing Gaza to the ground, preventing the return and reconstitution of Palestinian life. Extractive energy and mining conglomerates, while providing sources of civilian energy, have fuelled Israel's military and energy infrastructures – both used to create conditions of life calculated to destroy the Palestinian people.
And while the genocide rages on, the inexorable process of violent annexation continues. Agribusiness still sustains expansion of the settlement enterprise. The largest online tourism platforms continue normalizing the illegality of Israeli colonies. Global supermarkets continue to stock Israeli settlement products. And universities worldwide, under the guise of research neutrality, continue to profit from an economy now operating in genocidal mode. Indeed, they are structurally dependent on settler-colonial collaborations and funding.
Business continues as usual, but nothing about this system, in which businesses are integral, is neutral. The enduring ideological, political and economic engine of racial capitalism has transformed Israel's displacement-replacement economy of occupation into an economy of genocide. This is a “joint criminal enterprise”, where the acts of one ultimately contribute to a whole economy that drives, supplies and enables this genocide.
If you thought there was such a thing as corporate social responsibility, give up the idea. What this report shows is that the lesson from Milton Friedman in 1970 has been well and truly learned by large parts of the multinational corporation community. They believe what he said then, which was that the sole purpose of business is to make a profit, within the rules laid down by law.
Of course, the arms companies that are supplying the Israeli government with the means to pursue genocide, and the equipment manufacturers who are supplying it with the means to clear people from their homes in both Gaza and the West Bank, and all the others who are exploiting the situation in Gaza for commercial advantage, would argue that they are operating within the rules established by Israel, with the active support of their own domestic governments. There is, however, no defence for this. If they really do not think that international law exists, and that the Nuremberg trials after World War II did not happen, and that they could not be held similarly accountable for their own part in more than 50,000 deaths, and in ethnic cleansing, genocide, and now mass internment in concentration camps, they have not only failed to learn the lesson from history, but they are consciously ignoring every ethical responsibility that they have as human beings to their fellow human beings, here on Earth.
Francesca Albanese's report makes for grim reading. But what it really makes clear is that the idea of ethical capitalism is very hard to sustain in the face of the evidence that many major corporations will, apparently, do anything to make a profit. I stress that this is not to say that every business is unethical. Instead, what it suggests is that capitalism, which by definition seeks to accumulate wealth for a few at the cost of others, regardless of the consequences, is the quite literally valueless economic creed that is now underpinning the process of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
However, let's be honest about this. That same creed is also now seeing a large number of firms walk away from their commitments to deliver measures to control climate change, as well as their commitments to their staff, customers, suppliers, and the communities that host their actions regarding diversity, equality, and inclusion.
I always remember the first time that I heard a director of a major quoted company say in a private conversation with me and some others, who included the then first permanent secretary for HM Revenue & Customs, that corporations were just a bundle of contracts. There was, he said, nothing more to it than that. I told him at the time that I disagreed with him, quite fundamentally. He seemed momentarily taken aback, but I am quite sure that I did not change his opinion. It was clear that this man (for a man it was), who was a pillar of the community, possessed not a shred of ethical conscience, although he could most definitely always make a case for the rights of the wealthy. I suspect he is now retired, and I am unsure whether the company he was a director of at the time, which remains a major company in the UK, is currently involved in Gaza, as that is not my primary concern. The fact is that the people who share his belief are those who are not just aiding and abetting, but actively facilitating genocide now. I sincerely hope that they will eventually pay a significant price for their crimes, because they need to do so. Nothing less will do.
Taking further action
If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions, here.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
As always double check if you’re using an LLM. Both ChatGPT and Claude got my MP wrong. They’re both working with outdated information. I had Claude do web searches but it had trouble with FindMyMp Parliament website.
ChatGPT in my opinion created a better letter. Claude was a bit over the top while ChatGPT was more concise.
Also Richard have your web person fix the canonical links in the html
should be
I bet this is effecting your google ranking. You are using https://search.google.com to manage your sitemaps right?
Might I mail you about that issue?
It feels like the West and our “allies” have decided that the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the genocide of Palestines, is now inevitable, and if we just continue our 3 brass monkeys act for a little longer, it will all be over, and we can forget about Palestine for ever, because they will be either dead or in exile.
We’ve turned a corner, we aren’t even pretending we care. If we did, we would be:
Joining the IHL Court cases against Israel for war crimes including genocide
Sanctioning Israel’s entire government
Forbidding commercial links with Israel
Reversing our clampdown on protest regarding Palestine
Our government would be calling out war crimes for what they are.
In WW2, the full horror of what the Nazis did to their victims was not discovered till near the end of the war as concentration camps were liberated although there were many hints and rumours of what was to come, which were ignored.
In Israel/Palestine the full horror of what Israel is doing to its victims has been obvious for a long time -the crimes have been livestreamed. The difference is that we have used an ever-increasing amount of effort to deny and suppress it, the documentaries have been suppressed, the reporters assassinated, and the Israeli government have got bolder by the day, because they know that they will continue to get away with it.
This new concentration camp is being planned in full public view and will be constructed as the world watches on TV.
And if we, the public, protest, the force of law will be used, not against the war criminals, but against the protesters.
We are complicit. Every serving member of the UK government is complicit. History will judge them, one day.
It will
Meanwhile, they probably hope they’ll be nominated for Nobel Peace Prizes.
The question to be answered: to what degree is the UK gov involved in this?
We know that the RAF is “supporting” Israel in its genocidal activities in Gaza – “Daddy how did you help the Israelis commit genocide?” – style of.
Will the gov now provide export guarantees for firms involved in: building camps, “redeveloping Gaza” etc?
I still cling to the idea that most British people believe in some level of fairness and believe that the Uk gov should act in a way consistent with humanitarian principles. If this is the case, then perhaps there needs to be an election now – given the current gov through its actions (see above) & support for israel is exposing Uk citizens to retribution (lets not forget the events of 7/7 following the Iraq “war”).
It is also worth remembering that in the mid-1930s John Watson’s “International Business Machines” supplied hollerith machines to Germany – very useful when wanting to know who lives where etc. Corporations have a long history of working with horrible countries. Where will the UK gov “position itself” – current evidence suggests with Israel. Given this there needs to be a change of gov to one that does not support genocide, does not support israel and puts the interests of UK citizens front and centre in everything it does..
Clearly there are potentially massive reputational risks to Companies trading with Israel which could bring Companies down if they are held to account at some time in the future.
Why is it that shareholders and management cannot see this?
Its as much a commercial decision as it is an ethical one.
In January 2024, I tweeted that Israel’s end game was to massacre as many Palestinians as possible, then evict the remainder from Gaza and the West Bank. I take no joy in being correct.
The Tony Blair Institute advised BCG, the company deeply involved in this.
Those who could do something don’t or won’t. Starmer. Lammy. Both heavily funded by Israeli interests; as is the rest of the Front Bench.
Those who can’t do anything but care massively – millions in the UK – are hounded, then eventually proscribed. Accused of “hate marches” when the opposite is true.
Of UK companies openly helping with the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, JCB stands out. Their bulldozers raze houses to the ground, and their diggers tear up roads. “Lord” Bamford retired from the Lords when mired in scandal. The Bamford family paid for Johnson’s wedding. The family is now buying up much of the Cotswolds.
The overuse of words and phrases such as “crisis”, “shocking” and “horror” means we don’t have anything left to describe this. Every day, I see or hear some new awfulness and I think “This. This is SO terrible it will finally make something change”. But it doesn’t change. Ever.
And so hope dies a little more every day. The end result of that will either be a further disconnection of people from Governments or some eruption of violence. If it’s the first, then the Government will simply turn into an open dictatorship. If it’s the second, it will be bloody and cost lives.
I’m too old to have anything much left to lose. So I shall be joining the second alternative.
I’m standing right next to you on this.
On the face of it, this looks reasonable, Israel realising that it has gone too far in destroying HAMAS and taking too many innocents along the way. But it is too little too late.
But how do you screen out revenge in a population born of trauma? I can see men and women being separated in this enclosure – parallels with history and all that. After all, Gaza was such an enclosure. How many enclosures then in Palestine? And the Israelis have not defined the liveable conditions of the Palestinians other than using the word ‘humanitarian’. Well, we shall see won’t we?
You’ve heard me talk of Chavez Ravine in the U.S. – check it out – Ry Cooder wrote a whole album about a mostly Mexican community that was effectively moved out of their homes to make way for a baseball stadium.
But that is all I see in this conflict. It is not religious to me, it is racial. Like Chavez Ravine it is white people looking down on brown people and helping themselves to what they have. If you don’t think that is the problem then watch ‘The U.S. and the Holocaust’ and see how ex-European Jews rule the roost in Israel.
It’s not a good look Israel, to have ‘white supremacists’ added to a long list of your crimes.
Thank you, Hannah.
This post may be of interest: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/07/no-one-should-be-surprised-by-ft-allegations-that-tony-blairs-institute-for-global-change-took-part-in-gaza-riviera-project.html. You may recognise someone. If you read, please read the NC links from the day before (Monday) and what the regular contributor wrote.
My EU bank employer counts the eponymous firm as a client. My team and I have raised objections on these grounds, but to no avail. I have also raised objections on tax grounds, but have also been rebuffed.
We have another client, a well known chain of sandwich shops. This client and the above have been approached by the Gaza riviera developers to participate.
Wow…
In a week when a political leader cited for war crimes ( Netanyahu) nominated another political leader ( Trump) , a convicted felon – who two weeks ago ordered the bombing if the capital city of a country many thousand miles from the USA- for the Nobel Peace Prize, it makes me reflect on what kind of person really merits this hugely prestigious international award
An obvious candidate is Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese. She lives in Tunisia, but is forever criss crossing the world speaking out in the (in)human rights of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, as the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine.She has been joined by Zionist groups who find the truth about Gaza an anathema.
Now the Trump Administration is trying to get her fired as a United Nations rapporteur, because she unremittingly speaks truth to power, will not be intimidated, is feisty and brave, and a perfect candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize Trump so desperately desires.
Much to agree with
Saudi Arabia, and Gulf allies, have a plan for Palestine and is in talks with China, ASEAN trading bloc and other Muslim states.
They have also been looking for support in Europe. Spain, Ireland, Norway and now, it seems, France are supportive.
Most of the Commonwealth has voted in the UN for Palestinian statehood. I am sure they are making their views known privately. Soon they will be public.
It is not even in our selfish national interest to be at odds with most of the world.
At some point the lid will come off.
Lammy at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, when challenged on Israel’s intention to create a concentration camp:
“The Foreign Secretary said: “The statements that you’ve just described from defence minister [Israel Katz] relate very much to where the IDF are located and you’ll understand that if they’re, if what you describe is true then I think that would be a big sticking point for getting that ceasefire.”
Describing the issue as one of Israel’s “location” in Gaza, he added: “I suspect the statement from defence minister Katz is in relation to that and I suspect if indeed he is insistent of that position then it would be very hard to see how we get that ceasefire because there is an acute discussion about the degree to which the IDF withdraws from Gaza.”
“ Lammy said: “We’ve been very clear that we don’t support the aid foundation that has been set up, it’s not doing a good job, too many people are close to starvation, too many people have lost their lives.”
He added that his understanding was that there had been better conversations between the UN agency system and Israel over the last few days, saying: “So I’m surprised at the statements that I’ve seen from Mr Katz over the last 24 hours.
“And as I’ve indicated, they run contra to the proximity to a ceasefire that I thought we were heading towards, so I wonder if there’s some politicking going on for those within the government that for some reason stand opposed to this.
“But what you’ve described, I don’t recognise as a serious context in which the people of Gaza can get the aid and support that they need at this time.”
According to Lammy these
Gazans keep “losing” their lives. How careless of them…
Try words like:
Exterminated
Murdered
Assassinated
Massacred
Genocide
Ethnically cleansed
War Crimes
As we have just observed the 20th anniversary of 7/7, have any members of the government spoken about the serious risks that desperate outraged people will see such violence as their only way of being taken seriously?
That diaspora Jews will increasingly be put at risk as the government of Israel publicly demands their loyalty and support for such genocidal projects? (Just read the Jewish Chronicle as I do to see how that works)
Or do those last two comments make me a supporter of terrorism and antisemitism?
No, they don’t
And Lammy is getting everything wrong. If he isn’t worried abuut his trial date, he should be.
You might also be interested to know that Tony Blair Institute was also part of a group putting together a plan for Gaza, which Trump floated recently.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-07-07/ty-article/tony-blairs-staff-reportedly-involved-in-project-for-controversial-gaza-day-after-plan/00000197-e4d8-d5bc-a597-efd944f80000
also
https://www.ft.com/content/0b1bc761-c572-4b61-882a-fb4467259dcd (FT is paywalled)
These ideas are not sudden reactions to the situation. These ideas have been in planning for some time. Iran and Syria were the stumbling blocks, hence the removal of Assad(and Al Quaeda put his place) to allow attacks on Iran. Turkey and Azerbaijan are also part of this plan, Turkey having played a big roll in removing Assad, and Azerbaijan assisting Israel to attack Iran.
The “revolution” in Syria had nothing to do with democracy, nor did the attack on Iran have anything to do with nuclear issues. They are both part of a plan to bring oil and gas to europe, with Israel at the heart of it all.
Was the UK government given sight of Albanese’s Report before adding the latest Middle Eastern organisation to its list of proscriptions? “Tzipi” Hotovely was seen smooching up to our government (was it Nandy?) very recently.
It used to be diplomatic etiquette. Of course, correlation does not equal causation.
In order to pursue an ideological agenda, a Government has to become deaf to the people opposing it. We can all see the rapidly escalating erosion of our rights – to protest, to have bank accounts free from Government snooping; to say what we want to say; and, I’m afraid, to vote for a party which represents our particular values.
Selective hearing is what enables these people to sleep at night. Otherwise, they couldn’t.
Now that the rudderless Party in Government has given up all pretensions of being socially democratic, there is no party which I can vote for. The Greens, maybe, but I want to be free to vote for a genuine left of centre party. There isn’t one.
Much to agree with
Sorry to also be grim, be in a climate change ravaged world where the rulers, who didn’t treat the masses very well even when they were dependent on their labour, can largely replace the workers with AI and robots, what do we think is going to happen? It’ll be like Native Americans when the Europeans arrived, or 90% of humanity in William Gibson’s “Jackpot”. We have to ask:
https://gezwinstanley.wordpress.com/2023/12/17/are-we-all-bound-for-gaza/
And totally reject this normalisation of genocide. Or our rulers come for us next.
So what’s the process to hold corporations to account? Bringing Israel to the ICJ needed South Africa to bring a case against Israel. The ICC charged Netanyahu with war crimes and I believe is working on a case to include Smotrich and Ben Gvir. They should add Katz to the list as well as the Knesset member who advocated nuclear weapons in Gaza. However Karim Khan the head of the ICC has been accused of sexual misconduct (amazing coincidence!)and has temporarily removed himself from that leading position and so further charges are being delayed alongside threats from Israel and the US if they dare go ahead. Four more judges have been sanctioned by the US which means they can no longer go to the US and their bank accounts are frozen. Such wonderful people inhabit the halls of some governments!!How do corporations get charged? What needs to be done and by whom? I look forward to a modern day set of trials like Nuremburg where all these maniacle murderers are held to account.
I wish I knew the answers to those questions.
The problem with Nuremberg was that it was set up by the winners, on winners’ terms (so only a selected sample were prosecuted, most were allowed amnesty so they could help the winners by running space programs or big German companies).
Losers (or small non white, non Western winners) generally don’t get to run war crimes tribunals.
The S African case v Israel is an outlier, and, as you say, is facing an uphill battle. Don’t hold your breath.
“ethical capitalism is very hard to sustain”,
I find this statement to be the scariest, as there is now NO SUCH THING as ethical capitalism, this is the road we are marching down. I sound like a pariah spouting doom, but I now believe we are doomed.
I used to ask “when is enough, enough”? I’m certain now, there is never enough for some.
Rik