U.S. Asks U.N. To Bury ‘Blacklist’ Of Companies Doing Business In Settlements
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The Trump administration has called on the United Nations not to publish a database of companies that do business in Israeli settlements.
The database, which the administration calls a “blacklist,” was approved by the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2016 and includes American companies such as Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline.com and Airbnb. The list is supposed to be updated annually.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, told U.S. officials that he plans to publish the list by the end of the year and has asked for comments by Sept. 1 from countries where listed companies are headquartered, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing unnamed diplomats.
The sources told the newspaper that Zeid, who previously served as Jordan’s ambassador to the United States, plans to move ahead with publishing the list, calling it a resource for consumers and travelers. Publication of the list has already been postponed once at the request of the United States, according to the Post.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, in a statement called the list “an expression of modern anti-Semitism.”
The Human Rights Council has no power to sanction any of the companies on the list, but other U.N. committees could use the list to do so.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
