U.N. Agency Notifies 150 Companies Face Blacklisting for Doing Business Over Green Line

YERUSHALAYIM
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

The U.N. Human Rights Commissioner has notified 150 companies in Israel and abroad that they are about to be blacklisted for doing business in Yehudah and Shomron and east Yerushalayim, Haaretz reported on Wednesday night.

Citing sources among senior Israeli officials and Western diplomats, the paper said that the U.N. official, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, sent a letter to the companies two weeks ago warning them that they will be added to a database, which could find them in violation of “internal law and U.N. decisions.”

Of the companies on the list, about half are Israeli, 30 American, and the rest from Germany, South Korea, Norway and elsewhere.

Major corporations have been named in this and previous reports on the subject, including Caterpillar, Priceline.com, TripAdvisor and Airbnb. Among the Israeli companies reportedly targeted were Teva, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Bezeq, Elbit, Coca-Cola, Africa-Israel, IDB, Egged, Mekorot and Netafim.

The letter has already had a chilling effect on business, according to Haaretz, which said that the Office of Strategic Affairs at the Economy Ministry has knowledge that some of the recipients replied to the human rights commissioner saying they do not intend to renew contracts or sign new ones in Israel.

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