Israel freezes ties with UN rights body after it outs companies with ties to West Bank settlements

Furious officials complain of antisemitism amid fears that the firms will be boycotted, writes Bel Trew

A view of the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem (AFP/Getty)

Israel’s foreign minister has said the country will cut ties with the United Nations’ human rights commissioner after her office published a list of 112 companies with business links to settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The decision to release the database of firms, which includes travel giants TripAdvisor, Expedia and Airbnb, ignited fury in Israel with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the body “biased”. He said the move was an attempt to “blacken Israel’s name”.

In 2016, the UN’s human rights council commissioned the database of companies deemed to be linked to or supportive of the Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.

Following fierce objections by the US, publication of the list of foreign and Israeli firms was repeatedly delayed until Wednesday. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Wednesday the companies’ activities “raised particular human rights concerns”.

It denied the database was a “blacklist” or that it provided “a legal characterisation of the activities in question”.

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said it would not permit OHCHR to operate from Israel, and that the commissioner “has become a partner and tool of the boycott movement”.

He added that the foreign ministry and the prime minister’s office will lobby for the help of the US and other countries to “pressure against the ramifications of that decision”.

“The HCHR has branches here and we will not allow it to operate from here after the unprecedented, hypocritical decision,” Mr Katz told Army Radio on Thursday morning.

“Representatives of Syria and Iran are sitting at the HCHR and instead of paying attention to the hundreds of Syrians who are killed [in Syria’s civil war] and the slaughtering of Iranians in Iran, they are handling Israel.”

It is unclear what the direct impact will be. Israel is known to have bad relations with the commissioner’s office.

Mr Netanyahu also lashed out at the council, calling it “a biased and uninfluential body”.

“Instead of dealing with human rights, this body is trying to blacken Israel’s name. We reject any such attempt in the strongest terms and with disgust,” he said.

Benny Gantz, Mr Netanyahu’s chief elections rival in the upcoming elections next month, echoed the criticism, calling it “a black day” for human rights.

Yossi Dagan, chair of a regional council for West Bank settlements, meanwhile called it “antisemitic”, echoing Israeli advocacy groups such as NGO Monitor, who are highly critical of the UN.

A spokesperson for Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the report was not a “blacklist” and was not intended to qualify any of the companies’ business activities as illegal.

Israel and the US regularly accuse the Human Rights Council of anti-Israel bias, and the Trump administration withdrew in 2018, criticising it for accepting autocratic governments that the White House accuses of repeatedly violated human rights.

The council is made up of 47 governments, with countries such as Libya, Venezuela and Somalia among its members.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war and annexed east Jerusalem.

With broad international backing, the Palestinians also claim the West Bank and east Jerusalem as parts of a future independent state.

Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in addition to the 200,000 in east Jerusalem.

Palestinian leadership as well as Israeli and international rights organisations welcomed the UNHCR database.

Avner Gvaryahu, executive director of Breaking the Silence, an Israeli advocacy group made up of veterans, called it “an important and positive step in differentiating between legitimate Israel in its pre-1967 borders and the illegal and immoral settlement enterprise in the occupied territories”.

Bruno Stagno of Human Rights Watch said: “The database marks critical progress in the global effort to ensure businesses end complicity in rights abuse and respect international law.”

The Palestinians heralded it as “a victory for international law”.

There are concerns it could cause a boycott of the companies listed.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu listens to foreign minister Israel Katz, left, during a cabinet meeting (AFP/Getty) (Photo by GALI TIBBON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In response to inclusion in the database, British company JC Bamford said it is “not involved in the activities referred to in this report” and should not have been included. The company’s products, including JCB mechanical goods, are offered through a local dealer, Comasco, that also appeared on the list.

Another on the list, Cheerios maker General Mills, said it was listed because of a manufacturing facility that “uses natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes”.

A spokesperson said about half of the workers are Palestinians who enjoy full social benefits, adding: “The facility has a history of continuing employment and employee satisfaction.”

Airbnb declined to comment. The San Francisco-based tourism company said in November 2018 that it was removing its listings in West Bank settlements. The company reversed the decision after some Israeli-American homeowners sued. It said instead it would donate all profits from the listings to humanitarian aid organisations.