In her latest report, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has found numerous major Western nations culpable for supporting and enabling Israel’s subjugation of Palestinians, culminating in the Gaza genocide. Through diplomatic, military, and economic means, the US, UK, Germany, and many others are implicated in both providing cover for Israel on the international stage and actively aiding its military campaigns. These states are urged to fulfill their obligations under international law and cease all relations with Israel effective immediately.
Reed McIntire
15 December 2025
The United States and major European powers such as the United Kingdom and Germany have been found responsible for legitimizing and supporting the Israeli Gaza genocide in a new United Nations report. The report is authored by UN Special Rapporteur to the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, and uses legal analysis to prove that many major Western nations are guilty of giving support to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians through diplomatic, economic, and military means.
Under international law, states are obliged to prevent or help end unlawful situations such as genocide through any means deemed necessary. These measures can include trade-related actions such as embargos, diplomatic pressure as well as potential direct intervention if warranted. However, this latest report found that many so-called “Third Nations” (i.e. nations other than Israel or Palestine) failed in their legal responsibility to prevent and end the Gaza genocide.
Interestingly, the report details that these states have been culpable in maintaining the situation much longer than the actual genocide itself. In fact, the report details that Western support for Israel’s continued domination of Palestinian territories through military means and denial of Palestinian self-determination for decades helped to prepare the situation for genocide.
Following October 7th and the beginning of the Israeli siege on Gaza, Western nations gave diplomatic support for Israeli actions thus enabling further violations of international law and genocide. Even states which at times criticized Israel, such as Australia or New Zealand, were found to have failed in their responsibilities to prevent violations of international law and genocide. The report details that while some nations criticized Israel, many still took concrete actions to support the Israeli agenda, including withdrawing support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) at Israel’s behest.
Additionally, the UN report states that the sanctions imposed on certain Israeli persons such as Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir or on settler groups were too small and inconsequential to help. In fact, these sanctions are found to have effectively condoned the Israeli state’s actions as a whole through placing the blame on only a few individuals.
Other diplomatic actions such as recognizing the Palestinian state or holding peace summits, while well-meaning, were found to have changed little. Overall, the refusal to exclude Israel from the international system and providing both diplomatic cover and safe refuge for its leaders, despite active International Criminal Court warrants, enabled Israel to continue its countless violations of human rights and international law, culminating in the Gaza genocide.
Of course, certain nations were also found culpable for providing military support for the genocide, the US chief among them. The US alone provided the vast majority of military support for Israel during its campaign and genocide in Gaza with over 700 consignments of arms and ammunition provided and billions of USD spent on trade deals. Other nations such as Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia and others were also found to have provided military support for Israel through various trade deals, training programs and weapons development. While many nations tried to specify that they were providing “defensive” weapons and technologies, the report states that, owing to Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories, “nothing [it] does there can be understood as ‘defensive’ in nature” and the distinction is truly meaningless.
Other areas where third states aided and abetted Israel’s genocide of Palestinians include the delegitimization, defunding and attacks on aid organizations such as UNRWA. These aid organizations provided a lifeline to the suffering Palestinians and Israel’s targeting of them only further aided in their genocide. Additionally, the report finds that states have an obligation to suspend their trade with Israel while it continues violating international law and human rights, which only a handful of nations have fulfilled. In fact, despite many bilateral treaties between Israel and other nations, or even the European Union, including respect for human rights as a chief concern, this did little to push third states to embargo Israel or otherwise suspend normal trade relations.
Albanese ends her report calling for nations to fulfill their obligations under international law and not only to cease all aid to Israel while it continues its violations, but also to support the creation of Palestinian state. Furthermore, the report calls directly for states to suspend all ties with Israel and for the country to be suspended from the UN in accordance with the UN Charter Despite this, nothing of importance has been done so far by any nation, least of all Israel’s major allies.
Albanese herself has come under fire for her defense of Palestinians. In July 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US will sanction Albanese for reported “lawfare” against the US and Israel. According to Rubio, Albanese is guilty of biased and inaccurate reports on the conditions of Gaza and is in violation of both American and Israeli sovereignty. Rubio also states that ICC warrants are an “overreach” and “without legitimate basis”. However, both Albanese and the ICC are acting well within the limits of international law and the US’ protestations have found little, if any, support abroad.
