Egyptians furious over Trump’s Gaza plan, downplay aid threat

LONDON: A parliamentary committee in the UK has demanded that a major US consulting firm provides full details of its activities related to Gaza, after it emerged the company helped set up a controversial Israeli-led aid operation.

Boston Consulting Group was also asked to provide details of the work it carried out on models to estimate the costs of a widely-condemned Israeli and US plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to other countries.

Liam Byrne, chairperson of the Business and Trade Committee, sent a letter requesting the information to BCG’s CEO, Christoph Schweizer, as part of the “scrutiny of the UK’s commercial, political and humanitarian links to the conflict.”

The Financial Times reported on July 4 that the consultancy had built a financial model for the reconstruction of Gaza, which included an estimate of the likely cost of the voluntary relocation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

It also said BCG had helped establish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed aid-distribution program in the territory. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to access humanitarian supplies at the foundation’s distribution sites since they started operating in May.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Schweizer said the lead partner involved in the work carried out by BCG had been “explicitly told not to do any work related to Gaza reconstruction.”

He added: “The project fell well outside our standards for work that we accept. But the ban was ignored, and the work was secretively conducted anyway.”

He said an internal investigation began in May, two of the partners involved were subsequently “exited” from the company and BCG did not receive any fees for the work.

Byrne, an MP from the UK’s ruling Labour Party, sent a number of questions for BCG to answer about its work on Gaza “in light of the high level of public and parliamentary concern.”

He wrote: “We are aware of recent reports regarding BCG’s engagement with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and associated modeling of the costs of relocating Palestinians from Gaza.”

He asked for a “detailed timeline” of BCG’s involvement with the foundation, the scope of its engagement, and the identities of the clients and partners involved. He requested details of other organizations, companies or individuals engaged by BCG in relation to the aid-distribution program, and more details about the type of the “unauthorized” work the company said was carried out.

Byrne also asked for more information about the work related to the development of models for the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, including the identities of those who commissioned the work and whether any UK-based organizations were involved.

He gave BCG until July 22 to respond, “given the seriousness of these issues and the high level of public interest.”

Nearly 58,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023 during Israel’s war on Gaza, including more than 500 in recent weeks as they attempted to obtain food aid from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites. The organization, which was set up to replace UN aid-distribution mechanisms, has been condemned by humanitarian chiefs for politicizing aid.

US and Israeli-backed proposals to relocate the Palestinian population of Gaza to other countries, which emerged at the start of the year, were widely condemned by governments in the region and beyond.

GENEVA: Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the US imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.

Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.

She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work that had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course.

“Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures,” he said.

Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to “refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal” against the body’s experts.

Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.

“This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same,” she said. “It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this.”

Russia has rejected Katzarova’s mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.

Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.

Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.

“The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The group’s former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt “to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza.”

The US, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.