The United Nations Office for Human Rights today published a list with an additional 61 companies operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which this organization considers illegal.
The database, first published in 2020, now includes 214 companies, mostly from Israel, but also from 10 other countries, including France, Germany, China, and the USA, reports Reuters news agency.
The list includes Israeli pesticide manufacturer ADAMA, Israeli real estate investment holding Alony Hetz, and Spanish company Salvat Logistica, and these firms join companies such as travel platforms Expedia and Airbnb.
Israeli authorities have previously stated that the UN list unfairly and negatively portrays companies operating in accordance with the law.
“This is a distorted mechanism – established by a body with serious shortcomings and an automatic majority against Israel,” the Israeli diplomatic mission said today, stating that this database was created to “persecute” the Jewish state.
The UN Office for Human Rights conducted an assessment of companies operating in a range of sectors, including energy, food industry, hospitality, transport, and agriculture.
An estimated 60 more companies are being assessed, but they were not included because they did not meet the UN criteria regarding participation in activities that violate the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
Assessed examples include supplying equipment for the demolition of Palestinian structures, providing surveillance for settlements, and other services such as transportation that help maintain them, according to the UN website.
Other companies, such as the British online travel company “Opodo” and the Spanish online travel agency “eDreams,” were removed from the original list after submitting a request for reassessment.
The UN determined that there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are no longer involved in activities that previously justified their inclusion.
eDreams stated last year that it had been removed and would continue to block accommodation offers in illegal Israeli settlements, noting that some of them had automatically appeared on its website after being posted by owners.
The travel company “Expedia” previously stated that accommodation offers in areas it called “disputed” were clearly marked, were in accordance with international laws and sanctions, and were subject to enhanced screening in line with UN standards.
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