A major flaw in the ethic of war is the inability to account for activities that fall outside the domain of violence itself, but which play important roles in shaping the ability to perpetuate war. This is because war is itself an expression of human illogicality. As Pope Francis rightly notes, “war is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying.”
This instantiation of the grey areas where such activities fall under is very much at play in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War playing out in Gaza. On July 3, 2025, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories released her report to the UN human rights council where she described how such activities are perpetuating what she has termed “an economy of genocide.” In her report titled, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, Francesca Albanese noted the following: “After October 2023, long-standing systems of control, exploitation and dispossession metamorphosed into economic, technological and political infrastructures mobilized to inflict mass violence and immense destruction. Entities that previously enabled and profited from Palestinian elimination and erasure within the economy of occupation, instead of disengaging are now involved in the economy of genocide.”
She noted that “arms companies had turned near-record profits by providing Israel with cutting-edge weaponry to unleash 85,000 tonnes of explosives – six times the power of Hiroshima – to devastate Gaza.” Some of these companies are within Israel itself, like Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Others are located in several nations including the United States, Japan, Italy, and Denmark.
Companies like Microsoft, Google, Lockheed Martin, Amazon, Alphabet and many more have helped to sustain the war against the Palestinian people. As she noted, the genocide against the Palestinian people has become a lucrative business for many and has thus made it difficult to bring the violence to an end.[
Albanese’s choice of words is deliberate. By calling the conflict an economy of genocide, she is calling attention to a lacuna in the United Nation’s definition of genocide. The focus of the definition is on the direct perpetrators of the genocidal acts. But as we have come to understand in the contemporary era, it takes more than just the direct perpetrators of the genocidal acts to carryout acts of violence that can fall under the category of genocide.
While efforts continue to be made to help bring about a ceasefire between Hamas and Isreal, attention has to be given to the need to rebuild Gaza. The United Nations, along with the European Union and the Arab States, have estimated that it will cost $53bn to rebuild Gaza and this will not be completed until 2040. However, the focus is more on the destroyed buildings. No mention is made to address the enduring traumas that have shaped the lives of the Palestinian people.
Perhaps, an African moral consciousness can help in the collective healing of both the Palestinian People and the Israelis. The African moral principle of Ubuntu demands that healing must be holistic and must be extended to one’s enemies. This was the foundational principle guiding the Gacaca Court System in post-war Rwanda.[4] Benefactors of an unjust economic system have a moral obligation to assist in the corrective process of healing those who are the victims. It is on this note that I call attention to three moral issues that the future of Gaza ought to embody.
First, the way forward must also factor in the moral obligation that the multinational companies have in ensuring that the profits they continue to make at the expense of the Palestinian People are used to rebuild Gaza and offer compensations to the Palestinians for the losses they have incurred.
Second, A close study of Israeli economy shows that Israel is not immune from an economic crisis that is directly tied to the war itself. As the African social worldview reveals, all life is interconnected. What happens to one’s neighbor also affects one. Thus, any effort
at arriving at a political solution to the crisis ought to address a new economic vision that can resolve the economic hardships faced by both parties.
Third, this war against the Palestinian people calls for a collective soul-searching to help understand the enduring traumas and appeal to the illogicality of violence. This soul-searching can take the form of a Palaver dialogue where all parties must be allowed to air their grievances. The primary focus of the dialogue is to reach a decision of enduring peace and mutual flourishing.
In conclusion, the moral lapse defining the Israeli response to the attack of 2023 by Hamas threatens to make Israel a pariah state. Ignoring this fact does no good in advancing the cause of Israel in the global community. No nation has ever flourished when it is despised by other nations because of their refusal to play by the rules.
Bibliography / Sources
- Francis. “Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis: Military Memorial of Redipuglia,” September 13, 2014.
- Francesca Albanese. “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 (A/HRC/59/23). United Nations, June 16 – July 11, 2025.
- “UN Expert Calls on World to End Trade with Israel’s ‘Economy of Genocide’.” Aljazeera, July 3, 2025.
- Federica Marsi. “UN Report Lists Companies Complicit in Israel’s ‘Genocide’: Who Are They?” Aljazeera, July 1, 2025.
- Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. “Definitions of Genocide and Related Crimes.” United Nations.
- Gaza and West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, February 2025.
- “The Justice and Reconciliation Process in Rwanda.” United Nations.
- Dahlia Scheindlin. “The Economic Foundation for Peace in Israel and Palestine.” The Century Foundation, May 27, 2025.
- Robert S. Wistrich. “Israel and the Holocaust.” Jewish History, vol. 11, no. 2 (1997): 13–20.