Israel working to delay UNHRC blacklist

Israel is working behind the scenes to delay publication of the United Nations Human Rights blacklist of companies doing business with areas of Israel over the pre-1967 lines, The Jerusalem Post has learned from official sources.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to publish the list either before, or during the session, which is scheduled to run from February 25 to March 22.

The Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot reported Tuesday that some 100 companies are on the list, including HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd.

It’s CEO, Tal Granot-Goldstein, appealed in writing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem to halt publication of the list, noting that it would be in Israel’s national interest to do so, Yediot reported.

The list, she said, could make Israeli companies vulnerable to international legal proceedings and investors to halt funding.

Last year, the UN said that it had whittled a list of 321 Israeli and international companies down to 206, out of which 64 had been contacted.

The UNHRC first called for the creation of such a list at its March meeting three years ago. Companies operating in Area C of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are expected to be on the list.

Publication of the list was initially delayed in an attempt to sway the US not to leave the UNHRC.

After the US’s departure from the council in 2018, the former UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said it would be published over the summer.

After his departure in August, the office of the new commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said the list would be out prior to the start of the UNHRC’s 40th session.

MK Michael Oren tweeted that the correct response was to oust the United Nations from its Jerusalem headquarters in Armon HaNatziv and for the US Congress to approve the legislation against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that is now under debate on Capitol Hill.

YESHA foreign envoy, Efrat Council head Oded Revivi suggested that Israel send the UN photographs of the Palestinian children in danger of starving if their parents were laid off from the 100 companies that operate in Judea and Samaria.