Palestinian environmental defender Abeer Butmeh calls for “global energy embargo against Israel” at COP29
Photo: Abeer Butmeh at COP29, November 14, 2024.
The coordinator of the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON)-Friends of the Earth Palestine, Abeer Butmeh, is calling for a fuel embargo on Israel given “Israeli operations” violate the “right to a healthy environment”.
She has previously noted that the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network works “on four main campaigns: the fight against all types of pollution, advocacy of rights concerning land, water and natural resources, energy transition, and, finally, the protection of biodiversity.” She has also highlighted that Palestinian “women suffer and resist all types of Israeli aggressions and are at the forefront of the defence of the land.”
Butmeh has been highlighting the demand of a fuel embargo at the United Nations COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan. She says: “What we need is a total global energy embargo against Israel. Rich countries must fund climate justice, not genocide.”
From October 21, 2023, to July 12, 2024, Azerbaijan, the host of COP29, supplied Israel with 28 per cent of its fuel imports, while Brazil, the host of COP30 to be held in November 2025, provided 9 per cent of the supply.
ICJ ruling and jet fuel exports
Almost one year ago, on January 26, 2024, the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague, the Netherlands ruled that it is “plausible” that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention.
A statement by UN human rights experts, endorsed by Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, has further highlighted that the ICJ ruling and Genocide Convention require States to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent genocide in another state as far as possible.
The Amsterdam-based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) has commented in its report Fuelling the flames in Gaza: “An embargo on the sale or transfer of jet fuel and crude oil to Israel, given the prominent use of air strikes on Gaza, may also … be considered relevant to the requirement to ‘employ all means reasonably available to them’ to prevent genocide in Gaza ‘so far as possible’.”
Photo: Climate activists, including Edmonton-based Eriel Deranger of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, at COP29 express support for the Palestinian people, November 11, 2024. Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP.
The US supplies jet fuel to Israel
The SOMO report documents: “The United States (U.S.) is a primary supplier of military provisions, including military jet fuel (known as ‘JP-8’), to Israel. U.S. company Valero has been a long-time and key supplier of JP-8 to Israel under contracts with the U.S. government. The JP-8 supplied by Valero is shipped from Corpus Christi port in Texas (U.S.) to Ashkelon (Israel) by vessels belonging to Overseas Shipholding Group. This shipping company is contracted directly by the Israeli government.”
Progressive International has also highlighted: “A report by Oil Change International and Data Desk revealed that three deliveries of JP-8 military jet fuel took place between October 2023 and March 2024 using the US-flagged tankers Overseas Santorini and Overseas Sun Coast. Each shipment contains around 300,000 barrels of jet fuel, enough for around 12,000 flights of Israel’s F-16 and F-35 aircraft.”
Mondoweiss adds: “The fuel is used by Israel’s Apache attack helicopters, F-15s, F-16s, and Merkava tanks.”
The Guardian has specified: “The third left Texas on 9 February 2024 – two weeks after the international court of justice’s interim ruling that Israel could plausibly be committing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in occupied Gaza”
On July 29, 2024, The Guardian reported on another shipment by the tanker Overseas Santorini of 300,000 barrels of military-grade JP-8 fuel for use by Israel in Gaza. Oil Change International notes that ship docked in Israel in early August.
Video still: One tanker provides jet fuel for 12,000 flights of F-35s. Ottawa-based Gastops is the sole-source supplier of engine sensors for the F-35.
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Canadian oil exports could be re-exported by the US as jet fuel
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) notes: “Canada is now the largest single source of U.S. total petroleum and crude oil imports. In 2022, Canada was the source of 52% of U.S. gross total petroleum imports and 60% of gross crude oil imports.”
Significantly, it further notes: “Some of the crude oil that the U.S. imports is refined by U.S. refineries into petroleum products—such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel—that the U.S. later exports.”
The Canadian Energy Centre also says: “While Canadian oil and gas exports currently go almost exclusively to the U.S., once they enter the integrated pipeline system, they can become so-called ‘re-exports’ from U.S. Gulf Coast to overseas markets.”
The JP-8 jet fuel exported to Israel originates from Valero’s Bill Greehey refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Furthermore, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) industry association also confirmed in May 2021: “In 2020, U.S. imports of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products from Canada averaged more than half a million barrels per day, or more than 8 billion gallons in total for the year.”
Overall, the United States imported 4.36 million barrels of crude oil per day from Canada in November 2023. In 2021, the province of Alberta produced more than three million barrels of oil per day from the tar sands region that encompasses the lands and waters of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN).
Valero in Canada
SOMO and Oil Change International have noted Valero’s role in supplying jet fuel to Israel. We further note that Valero has an office in Montreal (1801, McGill College Avenue), operates the Jean Gaulin Refinery in Lévis (165, chemin des Îles), and supplies fuel to independently owned gas stations including Ultramar in Canada.
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Butmeh: “We need to analyze soil, water, and air samples to assess the current and long-term environmental impact of the current war and environmental crimes in the Gaza Strip.”
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