The genocide in Gaza is also a corporate genocide
In the UK, six people were charged with terrorism offences on September 3 for making Zoom calls to organise a protest against the ban on Palestine Action. The protest is planned for September 6 and more than 1000 people have pledged to risk arrest for expressing support for the Palestine solidarity group designated a terrorist organisation by the government in July. The six arrested people face prison sentences of up to nine years if convicted, while the protestors face up to 14 years in prison.
The UK government’s own spy service failed to find any evidence that Palestine Action posed any threat to life and failed to meet the criteria of terrorist organisation in any accepted international definition of the term — yet endorsed the government’s attempt to ban the group. These findings were in a report that was prepared by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), based inside MI5 and staffed from across the UK’s intelligence community, and which was leaked in March this year, three months before the ban came into effect. The JTAC report stated “the majority of direct action by Palestine Action would not be classified as terrorism,” and could only cite incidents of property damage to support designation as a terrorist group.
The UN human rights chief called the ban a “disturbing misuse” of counter-terror law, highlighting the reliance on property-damage rather than threats to life.
On 11 February 2025, the month before the JTAC report was leaked, a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist and Labour donor, Sir Trevor Chinn, met privately with David Lammy. Trevor Chinn has been a face in the UK corridors of power for decades, promoting Israeli commercial and cultural interests. He has been a prolific donor to UK politicians. No minutes were taken at the meeting with Lammy, and the substance of the meeting remains undisclosed. There is, of course, no evidence that Palestine Action was discussed at this meeting but the unlogged nature of this contact — and Chinn’s deep involvement in pro-Israel networks — could and should ring alarms. While not working exclusively for the Israeli arms industry, his interests are undoubtedly aligned, and, as the Lammy meeting shows, he has long had the ear of senior government figures.
Here’s a summary of Chinn’s donations to just the Labour party in recent years.
A. To Keir Starmer’s 2020 Labour Leadership Campaign
• £50,000 — registered in the House of Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests (received 26 February 2020, registered 9 April 2020).
B. To Senior Shadow Cabinet Figures (2020–2024)
• Total: over £180,000 to 8 senior figures including Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson, Liz Kendall, Steve Reed, and Lisa Nandy.
C. To “Labour Together” Think Tank
• £245,500 to £360,000 since August 2017, depending which sources you look at.
D. Donations to David Lammy
• £10,000 — in two donations of £5000 (received 27 September and 22 December 2014) for his campaign.
Meanwhile, Israeli arms manufacturers that have contracts with the UK armed forces include:
• Elbit Systems – Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer; drones, surveillance, artillery, electronic warfare. Major UK contracts.
• Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) – State-owned, produces drones, missile defence (Arrow, Barak), satellites.
• Rafael Advanced Defense Systems – State-owned, makes Iron Dome, Spike missiles, naval/air defence systems.
• IMI Systems (Israel Military Industries) – Ammunition, small arms, precision-guided systems (acquired by Elbit in 2018).
The products provided by these companies are not just kit, they are fully integrated with the UK military to the point that many UK systems simply wouldn’t work without them. The UK military and Israeli arms companies are joined at the hip.
Sanctioning the Israeli entities that arm and supply the Gaza genocide would be unthinkable for the UK government because the two are so financially and logistically intertwined. For this, Gazan civilians must die.
Elbit is currently being considered for a £2 billion contract to train UK armed services, a bid that was threatened by supply issues caused by Palestine Action’s protests. When Palestine Action was banned, that obstacle to the contract was removed.
There is no smoking gun of collusion between the UK government and these Israeli companies but it defies belief that alignments of interest haven’t been or aren’t being discussed.
And what is true of the conjoined-twin military and economic relationships between the UK and Israel is true of the US and most European countries too.
The money being spent on these military contracts is taxpayer money, the majority of whom oppose doing anything to support or enable the Israeli genocide.
Meanwhile, a 38-page prospectus, apparently circulated inside the Trump White House, outlines a post-war scheme called the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust (GREAT Trust). The document, reported on by the New York Times on August 31, proposes a U.S.-administered trusteeship for roughly a decade, offering cash and subsidies to encourage “voluntary” relocation of Gaza’s 2 million residents, issuing digital land-tokens in exchange for property rights, and remaking Gaza into a high-profit tourism and tech hub (a “Riviera of the Middle East”) financed by roughly $100 billion of public/private investment. The plan was developed by Israeli entrepreneurs with financial modelling done by Boston Consulting Group staff (who have since said the work was not authorised and that two partners were fired). Critics—Palestinian leaders, human-rights organisations, Arab states and legal experts—say it amounts to demographic engineering and would breach international law.
Gaza health authorities report the death toll rose from about 62.7k (late Aug) to about 64.2k (4–5 Sep) — 1,500–1,600 more deaths in that period. An Israeli strike on the Nasser Hospital on August 25 killed 22 people including 5 journalists. Dozens were killed or wounded while seeking food or water. Famine has been officially declared and famine-related deaths continue to rise. A UN committee reported about 40,500 new child injuries in the war and approximately 21,000 children have been left disabled.
Greta Thunberg has joined hundreds of activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla in an attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and deliver symbolic humanitarian aid. Previous flotilla efforts have all been intercepted or attacked by Israeli forces—through drone strikes or forcible boarding—and Israel’s National Security Minister has declared that this convoy will be treated as terrorists, with participants possibly detained under “terrorist” conditions.
Where else have we heard a government invoke the t-word for peaceful protestors?
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