MORE than 20 groups have called for urgent action to be taken against UK corporations they allege are complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza.
In a joint statement published on Wednesday, 23 civil society organisations called on the UK Government to take action against firms they say are profiting from Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory,
It comes after UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese published a report in June exploring corporate complicity with the genocide in Gaza.
The signatories to the statement include Amnesty International, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, the Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.
The groups said that any corporation following international human rights standards – such as the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights – should have already ended its involvement with the Israeli occupation.
The statement further adds that companies and individual executives can be held legally liable for their complicity in violations of humanitarian law.
The groups said that the Labour Government's failure to hold UK companies accused of involvement with Israel's actions in Gaza to account, as well as the UK's broader trade relationship with Israel, has "helped to normalise violations of international law".
"The UK Government continues to allow UK firms to trade with and invest in businesses based in illegal settlements on the West Bank," the statement reads.
"These economic relations help to make such enterprises profitable, boost the settlement economy, maintain the system of apartheid, and sustain Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory."
The statement calls on the UK Government to: impose an arms embargo on Israel; ban trade and economic relations with and investment in Israel's illegal settlements; suspend the UK's current trade agreement with Israel, following the suspension of talks around a new free trade deal with Israel in May; expand sanctions against Israel, and; enforce accountability from corporations and executives within UK jurisdiction.
The groups also urge UK corporate entities to cease all activities which "cause or contribute to human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people".
The full list of signatories is:
- Amnesty International
- Amos Trust
- Anti-Slavery International
- Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
- Campaign Against Arms Trade
- Corporate Justice Coalition
- Corporate Watch
- Earthsight
- Environmental Justice Foundation
- Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
- Global Justice Now
- Global Legal Action Network (Glan)
- Global Witness
- International Centre for Justice for Palestinians
- ICAHD UK
- Labour Behind the Label
- London Mining Network
- Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID)
- Scottish Fair Trade Forum
- The Circle
- Trade Justice Movement
- Trocaire
- Water Witness International
The joint statement also includes an annex with a list of UK entities which the groups allege have activities connected to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, citing reports from the UN.
The group also calls for action to be taken against entities which are listed on the London Stock Exchange which are also referenced in Albanese's recent report.
These include Airbnb, which has been found to have listings in illegal Israeli settlements, as well as firms such as Amazon, Blackrock, Leonardo and Palantir.
Commenting, Peter Frankental, economic affairs programme director at Amnesty International UK, said: “The UN Special Rapporteur has created a hall of shame for companies that are supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and sustaining Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank.
“UK companies are being warned that their role in Israel’s war crimes, system of apartheid and occupation of Palestinian land is coming under scrutiny and could lead to liability.
“The UK government must enact legislation to hold UK companies accountable for failing to prevent human rights violations in their global value chains.
“The UK has no excuse for allowing trade relations with Israel’s illegal settlements that incentivise their expansion at the expense of Palestinians whose homes are demolished as they are forced off their land.”
A Government spokesperson said: "The killing of civilians in Gaza is intolerable - the UK continues to call for an immediate ceasefire as the only way to end the bloodshed. This Government has already taken action and paused free trade agreement negotiations with Israel, one of a number of measures we have taken in relation to the Netanyahu government."
“As set out to Parliament last September, we have also suspended licences for exports of equipment to the IDF that might be used in military operations in Gaza, based on our assessment that these could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law."
