The United Nations Human Rights Council, or UNHRC, published an interim report on Wednesday about companies engaging in business with Israeli settlements, but stopped short of naming the companies, citing the complexity of the issue.
In a report issued by the UNHRC, the organization noted that 206 companies are accused of doing business in Israeli settlements, but stated that since only 64 of the companies had been contacted about the allegations, the council was forced to delay the publication of their names.
“Once OHCHR (Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights) has been in contact with all 206 companies, and subject to determinations of their responses and non-responses, OHCHR expects to provide the names of the companies engaged in listed activities in a future update. Before the determinations on the companies are made public, OHCHR will notify the companies concerned,” state the report.The UNHRC report, which was first commissioned in 2016 and seeks to create a database of companies doing business in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and Golan Heights, has been slammed by both Israel and the United States as a “blacklist” that will encourage boycotts of the Jewish state. The report’s partial publication came just hours before the U.N. was set to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day at its headquarters in New York.
“On the day that the U.N. is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the UNHRC has chosen to publicize this information about the number of companies operating in Israel,” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said in a statement. “This is a shameful act which will serve as a stain on the UNHRC forever. We will continue to act with our allies and use all the means at our disposal to stop the publication of this disgraceful blacklist,” he added.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee responded to the report by calling on Congress to take action to prevent “unfair boycotts against Israel.”
“The U.N. Human Rights Council has issued a highly biased and anti-Israel report targeting the only democracy in the Middle East. It is very concerning that this report could be used to lay the groundwork for boycotts against American companies that do business with Israel,” AIPAC said in a statement.
