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65 tankers of crude oil and refined petroleum products, including jet fuel, shipped to Israel since October
Updated findings from Data Desk, commissioned by Oil Change International, Behind the Barrel: New Insights into the Countries and Companies Behind Israel’s Fuel Supply, reveal continued and expanded oil supply fueling Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Building on data released in March, countries and companies continue to fuel Israel’s war machine, despite the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) opinion from January, stating Israel is plausibly committing genocide and Palestinians in Gaza have plausible rights under the Genocide Convention and from July, stating the occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful. This updated analysis highlights the ongoing complicity of these countries and companies. As more and more Palestinians are killed in bombings and pressure intensifies on global leaders, including US presidential candidates, to end the genocide, these suppliers continue to enable the violence.
Key Findings:
Recent ICJ rulings have condemned the ongoing violence and called for an immediate halt to all military aid fueling the genocide. These companies and countries could be held complicit in this genocide under the Genocide Convention according to some legal experts.This legal backdrop underscores the urgent need for countries and companies to cease their involvement in oil supplies to Israel.
As the US gears up for the 2024 elections, the issue of Israeli military support and its implications on ethnic cleansing and the ongoing occupation are increasingly in the spotlight. The current US administration must decide whether to continue supporting actions that contribute to genocide or to heed the call for justice and peace
Palestinian groups and their allies have called for an energy and arms embargo and are demanding governments and companies cease all fuel and arms shipments to Israel until it ends the genocide and its regime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. Specifically, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement calls for a boycott of Chevron. Countries, as well as oil and gas companies, must be held to account for their role in perpetuating violence and human rights abuses. Colombia has set a strong precedent and issued an embargo on coal exports to Israel until the ICJ ruling is upheld. Colombian coal makes up over 50% of Israel’s coal imports.
Statements:
Lorne Stockman, Oil Change International Research Director:
“Despite the ICJ’s ruling condemning the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, countries and companies continue to supply oil that fuels Israel’s military aggression. This ongoing complicity reveals a blatant disregard for international law and human rights, as they prioritize profit over justice and peace.”
Dr. Irene Pietropaoli, Senior Fellow in Business and Human Rights, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, is the author of Obligations of Third States and Corporations to Prevent and Punish Genocide in Gazaexpert legal opinion, said:
“Independently from home State regulation, companies that sell oil and fuel and other military supply to the government of Israel have their own responsibility to respect human rights and abide by international humanitarian law and international criminal law, as recognized in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ‘over and above compliance with national laws and regulations’. Corporations supplying jet fuel and oil to Israel may be providing material support to the military, aware of its foreseeable harmful effects, and therefore risk complicity in war crimes, genocide, and other crimes under international law.”
Abeer Butmeh, Coordinator at PENGON (Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network)
“The current genocide in Gaza, against Gazan people and Palestinian environment, targeting intensively all elements of life in Gaza, is fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies. These countries and corporations must be held accountable for potential violations of international law. As they are putting themselves in a hook of the war crimes and genocide by supplying oil to Israeli armed forces that deliberately make Gaza not habitable any more.”
Mahmoud Nawajaa, General Coordinator, Palestinian BDS Movement
“It is unconscionable that in the midst of Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza governments that publicly condemn the genocide and support Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law continue business as usual with apartheid Israel, supplying it with energy and profiting from its crimes. The BDS movement calls for escalating grassroots and civil society pressure to make those hypocritical governments stop their complicity in Israel’s mass murder and starvation of Palestinians and, simultaneously, to hold accountable the companies complicit in these egregious crimes, such as Chevron, BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Eni, and Total Energies.”
Mohammed Usrof, co-founder of Climate Alliance for Palestine, said:
“Since the last report, our suffering has deepend. I lost 21 members of my family in March, uncles and aunts and cousins. Families torn apart and memories and dreams shattered by the occupation’s genocidal actions. The findings in this report are both a painful reminder and a call to action to put an end to this misery. The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel’s war machine is not just a violation of human rights—it is a betrayal of our shared humanity. For decades, we have watched as Arab states have been divided, their unity fractured by the very forces that colonize our lands and oppress our people. It is time for a realignment, for Arab states to unite with Palestine’s liberation at the center of our collective struggle. This is not just about oil or borders; it is about justice, dignity, and the very essence of who we are as a people.”
David Tong, Industry Campaign Manager, Oil Change International, said:
“By deciding to keep supplying fuel to Israel despite the ICJ’s rulings that Israel’s occupation of Gaza is unlawful and that Israel’s actions may have violated the Genocide Convention, big oil companies are showing once again that they value profits above human rights and a safe climate. Every day that Chevron, BP, Exxon, Shell, Eni, and TotalEnergies provide fuel to Israel these companies expose themselves to potential legal action for their complicity in genocidal acts against civilians in Gaza.”
Mark Muenster, a Corpus Christi, TX, resident and organizer, said:
“As a member of the Corpus Christi community, I am upset and disgusted that our local refinery, Valero, is supplying jet fuel to Israel, directly contributing to the ongoing genocide recognized by the ICJ. Not only does Valero pollute our air and water, but it also depletes our resources, especially during our current drought conditions, pushing us towards stage 3 water restrictions. It is horrifying to think that our region’s resources are fueling such atrocities, and the US government’s complicity through continued military aid is unacceptable.”
Lydia de Leeuw, Strategic Litigation Lead, SOMO (The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) said:
“Israel’s army relies almost exclusively on imported crude oil and fuel to keep its military operations going. This means that third states and corporations play a critical role in facilitating Israel’s illegal occupation and atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people. Corporate executives may face legal liability for their material support to war crimes and genocide. Imposing sanctions to stop the energy supply that fuels Israel’s atrocities is a legal imperative for third states, and a matter of life and death for the Palestinians.
Nicole Oliveira, Executive Director of the Arayara Institute, said:
“Brazil has a political global responsibility not only to reduce oil production to stop fueling the climate chaos, but also to avoid fueling conflicts. Our actions carry significant weight, and Brazil’s role in the global energy landscape can either exacerbate turmoil or be leveraged to advocate for peace and environmental sustainability.”
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
(202) 518-9029"The Trump administration is trying to roll back decades of critical health and safety regulations that have saved millions of lives and are all that's standing between us and runaway climate change," said one campaigner.
While U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin boasted Wednesday of canceling billions of dollars worth of green grants, considering the rollback of dozens of regulations, and shutting down every environmental justice office nationwide, critics warned the moves will have dire consequences for people and the planet.
Zeldin—a former Republican congressman from New York with an abysmal 14% lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters—said in a statement that the EPA "will undertake 31 historic actions in the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history."
"We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S., and more," Zeldin said. "Alongside President [Donald] Trump, we are living up to our promises to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, and work hand-in-hand with our state partners to advance our shared mission."
In one of the biggest moves of the day, the EPA will reconsider its endangerment finding, which the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) described as "the landmark scientific finding that forms the core basis of federal climate action."
"Removing the endangerment finding even as climate chaos accelerates is like spraying gasoline on a burning house," said Jason Rylander, legal director of the CBD's Climate Law Institute. "We had d27 separate climate disasters costing over a billion dollars last year. Now more than ever the United States needs to step up efforts to cut pollution and protect people from climate change. But instead Trump wants to yank us backward, creating enormous risks for people, wildlife, and our economy."
Zeldin said the EPA is "eliminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental justice offices and positions immediately," a move that will result in the closure of 10 regional facilities. The EPA chief explained the move complies with Trump's executive order on "ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferences" and other presidential directives.
The agency also moved to cancel a $2 billion grant program to help communities suffering from pollution.
"This is a fuck you to anyone who wants to breathe clean air, drink clean water, or live past 2030," Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the youth-led climate group Sunrise Movement, said in a statement accusing the Trump administration of choosing "billionaires over life on Earth."
"The Trump administration is trying to roll back decades of critical health and safety regulations that have saved millions of lives and are all that's standing between us and runaway climate change," Shiney-Ajay continued. "Trump doesn't care about working people, all he cares about is pleasing the oil and gas billionaires who bankrolled his campaign. They know their industry is dying. Wind and solar are cheaper and safer than fossil fuels."
"So, they are trying to buy their way to profitability by rigging the rules in their favor," she added. "If they get their way, they will wreck our air, our water, burn down our homes, and hand future generations an unlivable climate."
TRANSLATION: Fuck you and fuck your future. Corporate polluters can dump sewage in your water, spew toxic gas into your air, and double down on burning the fossil fuels driving us into climate apocalypse. Billionaires can do whatever they want, and everyday people can eat shit.
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— Sunrise Movement ( @sunrisemvmt.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Matthew Tejada, a former deputy assistant administrator at the Office of Environmental Justice for over a decade before leaving the EPA in December 2023, now serves as senior vice president for environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). He toldCBS News Wednesday that "generations of progress are being erased from our federal government."
"Trump's EPA is taking us back to a time of unfettered pollution across the nation, leaving every American exposed to toxic chemicals, dirty air, and contaminated water," Tejada said in a separate NRDC statement Wednesday.
Tejada continued:
The grants that EPA moved to cancel are some of the most important to help make communities across the nation safer, healthier, and more prosperous. They are helping rural Virginia coal communities prepare for extreme flooding, installing sewage systems on rural Alabama homes, and turning an abandoned, polluted site in Tampa, Florida into a campus for healthcare, job training, and a small business development.
Those who have paid the highest price for pollution, with their health, are now the first to be sacrificed by Trump's EPA. But they will not be the last. Every American should be worried about what this portends. We are witnessing the first step of removing environmental protections from everyone, as the chemical industry and fossil fuel producers get their way—and the rest of us will pay with our health and lost legal rights.
On Tuesday, the EPA also canceled grant agreements worth $20 billion issued during former President Joe Biden's administration as part of a so-called green bank meant to fund clean energy and climate mitigation projects. The move prompted a lawsuit by Climate United Fund, a nonprofit green investment fund.
In another alarming development, The New Republicreported Wednesday that the FBI under Director Kash Patel is "moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration."
Responding to Zeldin's sweeping actions Wednesday, the environmental group Sierra Club said the EPA is "attacking safeguards to limit pollution from power plants and vehicles, methane and other deadly emissions from oil and gas sources, mercury and air toxics standards, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, wastewater regulations at coal plants, and many other critical protections for the environment and public health."
"The standards that the EPA seeks to undermine are based on a strong scientific record and serve a number of public interests, including lowering the amount of deadly toxins fossil fuel-fired plants are allowed to release into the air and water; reducing pollution at steel and aluminum mills; and requiring fossil fuel companies to control pollution like soot, ozone, and toxic and hazardous air pollutants at power plants," the group continued.
"If these rules are withdrawn, the American public will see devastating health impacts," Sierra Club warned. "EPA estimated that just one of the rules would prevent 4,500 premature deaths and save $46 billion in health costs by 2032. The health toll and cost of rescinding all the rules listed in the EPA's announcement would be vastly higher."
"Donald Trump's actions will cause thousands of Americans to die each year."
Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous said: "Donald Trump's actions will cause thousands of Americans to die each year. It will send thousands of children to the hospital and force even more to miss school. It will pollute the air and water in communities across the country. And it will cause our energy bills to go up even more than they already are because of his disastrous policies. But as they put all of us at risk, Trump and his administration are celebrating because it will help corporate polluters pad their profit margin."
David Arkush, director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen's Climate Program, said that "no matter how the EPA disguises the decision to roll back pollution rules, today's moves will make our air and water dirtier and make Americans sicker."
"Zeldin is granting the wishes of Trump's billionaire corporate cronies, plain and simple, at a massive cost to our health and wallets," he added. "The announcement flies in the face of the EPA's core mission to protect human health and safeguard our environment."
Green groups vowed to fight the Trump administration's attacks on environmental protections and justice.
"Come hell and high water, raging fires and deadly heatwaves, Trump and his cronies are bent on putting polluter profits ahead of people's lives," said CBD's Rylander. "This move won't stand up in court. We're going to fight it every step of the way."
Jealous of the Sierra Club said, "Make no mistake about it: We will fight these outrageous rollbacks tooth and nail, and we will use all resources at our disposal to continue protecting the health and safety of all Americans."
"He, like all presidents, must abide by the rule of law—and because he has not, Congress must adhere to its own obligations to carry out an impeachment investigation."
The pro-democracy group behind a campaign to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump a historic third time argued Wednesday that his administration's "blatant disregard for the judiciary branch" provides new grounds for Congress to launch an investigation.
Trump—who was impeached twice during his first term—returned to the White House in January, and since then has partnered with Elon Musk and various other billionaires to dismantle the federal government, provoking numerous ongoing legal battles.
As Free Speech for People detailed in a Wednesday statement, the new administration's recent "oversteps of the judiciary branch include: refusing to release $2 billion in foreign aid in defiance of multiple court orders; refusing to adhere to court orders that prohibit the Office of Management and Budget from implementing a freeze on all federal assistance; and refusing to adhere to a court order requiring U.S. Office of Personnel Management [acting Director] Charles Ezell to testify in person on March 13, 2025, in a lawsuit challenging Ezell and OPM's termination of thousands of employees."
Courtney Hostetler, legal director of the nonprofit, said that "the checks and balances of our three-branch government is a cornerstone of our democracy, created by our country's founders because they were rightfully afraid of how quickly, in the absence of a balanced system, our democracy might become a tyranny."
"Trump has usurped the powers of the legislature and now tramples on the authority of the judiciary," Hostetler continued. "In just one month, he has repeatedly ignored court rulings that have and must restrain his unlawful abuses of power. He, like all presidents, must abide by the rule of law—and because he has not, Congress must adhere to its own obligations to carry out an impeachment investigation."
Although the Free Speech for People's Impeach Trump Again campaign has collected over 250,000 petition signatures and Congressman Al Green (D-Texas) recently said he would bring articles of impeachment against the president, such an effort is unlikely to go anywhere given that both chambers are narrowly controlled by Republicans.
Even if Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in the midterms and pursued impeachment, they would also need sufficient support in the Senate to convict him. In both of Trump's previous Senate trials, he was not convicted.
Still, Free Speech for People argues that the House should launch an impeachment investigation into Trump for not only refusing to adhere to court orders, but also: planning the forced removal of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip; seeking retribution against perceived adversaries; dismantling independent government oversight; unconstitutionally usurping local, state, and congressional authority; receiving foreign and domestic emoluments; attempting to deprive Americans of birthright citizenship; dismissing criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams; abusing pardon and emergency powers; blocking efforts to secure U.S. elections; and engaging in unlawful, corrupt practices during the 2024 presidential campaign.
"This targeting sends a chilling message to people across this country, on and off campuses, that anyone exercising their rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation," said one advocate.
As a federal judge on Wednesday extended an order temporarily banning the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil and new details emerged about the Trump administration's arguments for trying to expel him, legal experts and other commentators continued to express alarm over the targeting of the green-card holder involved with pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.
In a Wednesday statement, Legal Defense Fund president and director-counsel Janai Nelson cited President Donald Trump's recent Truth Social post that described Khalil as "a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student" and pledged that "this is the first arrest of many to come."
Nelson warned that "the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and President Trump's promise that there will be more arrests to come, is a chilling presentiment that raises serious concerns about this administration's misuse of immigration enforcement personnel to curtail and punish constitutionally protected First Amendment activity. The Trump administration's tactics aim to stoke fear and signal that dissent will result in harmful immigration consequences and other forms of oppression that may include surveillance, violence, detainment, and even potential deportation."
"The law is clear," she stressed. "The First Amendment guarantees demonstrators the right to peacefully assemble and dissent without government retaliation. We demand due process and human and civil rights protections for Mr. Khalil and all lawful protesters. His treatment should alarm everyone who believes in the primacy of the U.S. Constitution and, especially, First Amendment freedom and equal protection under law."
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, finished his studies at Columbia in December. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City on Saturday while returning home with his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen who said that "ICE officers hung up the phone on our lawyer." He is being held at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana.
The Washington Postreported Wednesday that "a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio is so far the Trump administration's sole justification for trying to deport" him. The newpaper obtained a notice informing Khalil that he faces deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act because Rubio "has reasonable ground to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
Rubio on Wednesday suggested to reporters that Khalil supports Hamas, which has goverened the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States. The secretary said that "this is not about free speech. This is about people that don't have a right to be in the United States to begin with... No one has a right to a green card."
Khalil's lawyers said in a Monday filing that as a Palestinian, he "has felt compelled to be an outspoken advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, including on the campus of Columbia University," and "he is committed to calling on the rest of the world to protect the rights of Palestinians under international law and to stop enabling violence against Palestinians."
Last year's protests at Columbia and other campuses came as Israeli forces responded to a Hamas-led attack on Israel by waging a devstating U.S.-backed military assault on Palestinians in Gaza, resulting in widespread allegations of genocide.
The administration's attempt to deport Khalil and Trump's signal that other pro-Palestinian advocates will face similar attacks have provoked intense outrage. Khalil's legal team includes lawyers with the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which launched proceedings challenging his detention and seeking his return to New York.
"This is clearly an attempt to deport Mahmoud by exploiting a vague and overly broad provision of U.S. immigration law," CCR's Brad Parker told the Post. "This provision, if not reined in, will be exploited to pursue the deportation of anyone who disagrees with the administration's foreign policy agenda. This is not about security, this is about absolute executive power and repression."
Paul O'Brien, executive director at Amnesty International USA, also weighed in with Wednesday statement, calling Khalil's arrest "another attack on human rights by the Trump administration" and emphasizing that "each and every one of us—regardless of immigration status—has the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and due process."
"Targeting and threatening peaceful protesters and their immigration status for the content of their protest, such as advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, is a violation of human rights," he said. "This targeting sends a chilling message to people across this country, on and off campuses, that anyone exercising their rights will be subject to repression, detention, and possible deportation. And for the immigrant communities already living in fear throughout the U.S., they are now only further pushed into the shadows with fear that they could be deported for speaking out."
In addition to demanding Khalil's immediate release, O'Brien called on universities to "take steps to protect their immigrant students from ICE enforcement and ensure that the human rights of all of their students and faculty to protest in support of Palestinian rights and other issues is respected and protected."
As Common Dreams reported earlier Wednesday, Khalil's wife said in a detailed account of their recent experiences that her husband had emailed Columbia University the day before his arrest, seeking legal support, and had never heard back.
Jeffrey C. Isaac, a political science professor at Indiana University Bloomington, argued in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "this is not about Hamas or Palestine or Israel or antisemitism. It is about the crackdown on dissent. Period. Foreign 'agitators,' American 'agitators,' it makes no difference."
"The arrest of Khalil Mahmoud is an offense to every citizen of the United States, and it sets a precedent that endangers us all," Isaac added. "Trump is turning the United States into a police state."