UN blacklist of companies working in settlements advances

The Fifth Committee of the United Nations is set to decide next week whether to allocate funds to ensure that a motion by the body’s Human Rights Council to create a “blacklist” of companies operating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights can be implemented.

The Human Rights Council motion had passed in March with no countries voting against. The resolution required UN human rights officials to produce a database of “all business enterprises” that have enabled or profited from the growth of Israeli settlements, Haaretz reported on Friday.

The proposal, put forward by the Palestinian Authority and Arab states, included a condemnation of settlements and called on companies not to do business with Israeli settlements.

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Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon expressed concern about the upcoming Fifth Committee decision, and said the Jewish state had formulated a set of steps in order to fight the vote, Israel Hayom reported.

“We will not be silent in the face of this shameful step,” Dannon said, “The UN’s will to blacklist Jewish businesses and businesses connected with Israel and to boycott them, is reminiscent of dark periods in history,” he added.

“It is known that the Human Rights Council has become an anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli body, but it can not be that the UN is continuing to assist in this surreal process.”

While European Union nations opposed the creation of the list, they did not vote against the resolution, electing merely to abstain. It passed with 32 nations voting in favor and 15 abstentions.