UN adds 61 companies to list linked to West Bank settlements — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights added 61 companies to a database of businesses linked to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Following the update, the list includes 214 companies, The Jerusalem Post reports.
New companies in the database
The updated list includes, among others, Israeli pesticide manufacturer ADAMA, which is part of China’s Syngenta Group, Israeli real estate investment holding company Alony Hetz, and Spain’s Salvat Logistica. The database already included travel company Expedia and accommodation rental service Airbnb.
The database was first published in 2020. It mainly includes Israeli companies, as well as firms from ten other countries, including France, Germany, China, and the United States. The UN considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.
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Criteria and Israel’s reaction
The UN office assessed companies’ activities in the energy sector, food industry, hotel business, transport, and agriculture on the basis of confidential submissions. About 60 other companies were not added to the list because they did not meet the criteria for involvement in activities that, according to the UN’s assessment, violate Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
Examples of such activities listed on the UN website include supplying equipment for the demolition of Palestinian buildings, providing surveillance services for settlements, and transport services that support their existence. UK-registered travel company Opodo and Spanish online agency eDreams were removed from the initial list following requests for reconsideration. The UN concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that these companies were no longer involved in the activities for which they had been included in the database.
Israel’s diplomatic mission criticized the update, calling the database a distorted mechanism created by a body with an automatic majority against Israel. Israeli officials had previously said that the list unfairly stigmatizes companies operating legally.
