Solidarity Statement on Palestine - Corporate Accountability

We call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to genocide, profiteering, and occupation now!

Our hearts continue to be broken daily by the images and news coming out of Gaza and the West Bank. We mourn the loss of all lives—Palestinian, Israeli, and other nationals—on those lands.

At the heart of Corporate Accountability’s work and mission is a vision of a world where all people and beings can flourish. A world where corporate power and systems of oppression have been dismantled, a world rooted in justice and love, a world that holds life sacred. We build toward this world each day in partnership and solidarity with our community—staff, board, members, and allies across the globe.

In the service of this vision, Corporate Accountability stands with people of conscience everywhere to demand an immediate and permanent end to the state of Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza and the end to the occupation of Palestine. We believe in and are organizing toward a future where people of all races, religions, and nationalities can live and thrive, free from oppression, persecution, and violence. Israel’s occupation of Palestine and current attack on Gaza is directly counter to our vision and values.

We are heartsick and outraged by the increasingly horrific and inhuman conditions in Gaza. We recognize the pain and anger of our Palestinian members, allies, and staff at Israel’s deadly and dehumanizing colonial occupation of their land. We also recognize that for many of our Jewish and Israeli members, allies, and staff, this issue is also deeply personal, evoking feelings of fear, grief, and ancestral trauma from centuries of antisemitism, in addition to feelings of solidarity with Palestinians and anger at the Israeli government’s actions.

And, as an organization committed to justice, we are challenging the enormous political power imbalance of what has been unfolding in the region, particularly as it relates to corporate power. We call on all our members and allies to rise with us in solidarity in this moment.

Since the creation of the state of Israel, which was founded on the violent displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians (the 1948 Nakba), it has been supported by wealthy and powerful Global North nations. Many of these nations—especially the U.S.—have explicitly or tacitly supported Israel’s air, land, and sea blockade and previous military attacks on Gaza. They have also supported an apartheid regime across the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, as well as the acute oppression of Palestinians living inside the state of Israel.

Year after year, Israel intensifies its attempts to systematically erase Palestine and Palestinians as a place and a people, making no one—neither Palestinians nor Israelis—safer or more secure. And year after year, the U.S. and other Global North nations support this attempt through money—our taxes, military weapons, and a relentless narrative that dehumanizes Palestinians.

As an organization dedicated to challenging life-threatening abuses by corporations, Corporate Accountability is exposing the ways that corporate power fuels and supports Israel’s genocidal mission. From Lockheed Martin to RTX (formerly Raytheon), some of the biggest weapon makers have seemed positively gleeful about the millions of dollars of profit they are making off of Israel’s attack on Gaza and the war in Ukraine. And those impartial “experts” you see on TV advocating for the U.S. support of Israel? A shocking number of them have ties to the military-industrial complex.

As an organization working on climate, water, and food justice, we condemn Israel’s weaponizing of food and water, and connect the attacks to the climate crisis. With near total control of what can go in and out of Gaza, Israel is causing a massive shortage of water and mass starvation—worsening conditions already in place because of its nearly 18-year long illegal blockade of food, water, and other essential needs. Just one example of how corporations are supporting Israel’s genocide: As Israel began its massive bombing in October, it used its state-run water corporation to completely cut off access to water in Gaza.

Israel’s colonial project has long sought to cut Palestinians’ ties to their land—for example, with the illegal settlements in the West Bank and the bulldozing and burning of olive orchards. With the ongoing attack on Gaza, Israel is catalyzing a whole new set of climate catastrophes—from releasing hundreds of thousands of metric tons of emissions through its bombardment and ground invasion, to using saltwater as a destructive force for both the environment and people.

Additionally, the billions of U.S. dollars going to fund Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians could be going to address water and climate justice for communities most targeted by abusive corporations, including communities of color and low income communities in the U.S. This money could be funding public water systems, providing support to communities facing climate crisis-driven disasters, advancing a just and equitable transition, and more.

As an organization that challenges the systemic racism that fuels corporate power, Corporate Accountability exposes the connections between the Israeli army and militarized policing against Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color in the U.S. Thousands of local police, as well as federal officials from the CIA, FBI, and ICE, train with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). They bring back tactics of militarized violence and surveillance to communities in the U.S., including attacks on human rights and environmental defenders. For example, since 1996, the Atlanta police have trained with the IDF. In November 2023, the Atlanta police descended on unarmed activists protecting the Weelaunee Forest and protesting Cop City. Atlanta police reportedly attacked forest defenders with tear gas, rubber bullets, and other so-called “crowd control” weapons used by the IDF. And, this was hardly the first time the Atlanta police attacked unarmed protesters of Cop City. In January 2023, the Atlanta police shot and killed forest defender Tortuguita.

And as an organization based in the U.S., supported by hundreds of thousands of people across this country, we recognize our position. We are in the belly of the beast, with enormous responsibility to hold the U.S. government accountable for its support of the ongoing atrocities. To build a lasting peace for all people, we must address the root causes of injustice, and we must challenge those who seek to maintain the status quo and to protect corporate profits. We will continue to stand with those advancing truth and sovereignty, may it be for Palestinians today or other Indigenous peoples tomorrow. Today, we call on our members to take action and support the work of our Palestinian allies.

Take action now!

Contact Congress to call for a permanent ceasefire, and for the U.S. to restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). You can organize a phone bank with your friends and make sure everyone in your household and contact list is calling. These links make it easy to connect with your representatives:

Use this tool to find your local representative

Call congress demanding a ceasefire

Email congress demanding a ceasefire

How to meet your members of congress face-to-face

Fax congress

Boycott corporations that support Israel’s occupation: The Palestinian BDS National Committee calls for a boycott of specific Israeli and international companies that are complicit in violations of Palestinian rights. Learn more and participate in these strategic boycotts.