Companies and universities in Israel’s West Bank settlements

In my previous piece, I analyzed UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s report based on its executive summary. I argued that the report’s use of specific, descriptive language—both in the summary and in the body—is crucial for accurately situating Israel and Zionism in their proper context. The significance of this language becomes clearer when we consider the impact of Zionist propaganda following World War II. In the Western world, Zionists succeeded in framing Israel through the lens of antisemitism and the Jewish right to self-defense. A similar propaganda process occurred in our part of the world as well, emphasizing Israel’s so-called civilizational value.

As a result, even prominent historians and journalists did not shy away from slandering Arabs as having “sold their own land” or portraying Israel as “the only democracy in the Middle East.” The global reach of Holocaust literature reshaped discourse around the world. And yet, despite all this, the fact that Israel is a settler-colonial project was largely ignored for nearly seventy years.

That began to change after October 7, 2023. Since then, the veil over Zionism and Israel has started to lift. In this context, the terminology used in Albanese’s report is especially valuable.

Albanese highlights the illegitimate ties between Israel and its settlements in the West Bank, and universities in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and the US. As we know, the idea of a “global elite” often circulates in Türkiye in abstract terms. But Albanese goes beyond abstraction, examining the investments made by internationally active corporations—in collaboration with those universities—into Israel’s West Bank settlements.

The report names these companies one by one, outlining their areas of operation: investment funds, banks, insurance companies, major tech firms, defense contractors, and construction giants. It also explores how they’re interconnected. Albanese categorizes these institutions as “directly complicit in Israeli occupation and genocide.” Universities are included in that category too—specifically MIT, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Edinburgh, all of which are mentioned by name. This is a critical development.

Albanese notes that she relied on information from a large body of students, though only a fraction of it made it into her analysis. She links the crackdown on campus protests to students sharing this kind of information. Clearly, the universities involved—along with many others—do not want their financial or institutional ties to Israel and its West Bank settlements exposed. These institutions profit from weapons technologies tested in Palestine and are directly complicit in crimes of genocide. These facts speak volumes about the true nature of imperialism and colonialism today.

In paragraph 86 of Albanese’s report—titled From Occupation Economy to Genocide Economy—her observations on student protests are especially striking. She writes that “the global crackdown on campus protesters” is driven by universities and corporations trying to “shield Israel and protect their financial interests.” This sentence lays bare the situation. For example, the report details how companies that manage Norway’s pension funds profited from investments in Israel and its settlements after October 7. It also documents the experience and financial gain that German tech companies have derived from developing weapons in the “Palestinian laboratory.”

Despite how jarring these truths are, the Anglosphere has remained flooded with propaganda about the Holocaust and the supposed right of Jews to self-defense. But Albanese’s report states outright that the desire to shield Israel and protect corporate financial interests is “a more likely motivation” than the so-called fight against antisemitism.

Since October 7, I’ve been emphasizing that Israel is a settler-colonial project. This framework undermines the “clash of civilizations” narrative and shifts the conversation in a more grounded direction. Albanese’s report shows that such ideas are becoming more widespread. We must now work to understand and articulate the meaning of the extraordinary Palestinian resistance—an act that has inspired the world and signaled the potential for a new kind of rebirth.