Rights and Accountability 12 February 2020
A digger made by JCB is used by Israeli occupation authorities to destroy a Palestinian home in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in 2011. The British firm is in the UN database, released on 12 February of companies that work in Israel’s settlements.
APA imagesThe United Nations on Wednesday finally released its database of companies involved in Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The release of the database comes after years of unexplained delays, which prompted human rights organizations to express concern that the UN was succumbing to political pressure to suppress the information.
Israel’s colonial settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law and the International Criminal Court prosecutor has decided to investigate their construction as a war crime.The report released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights lists 112 companies involved in certain activities in the settlements, including the supply of equipment and materials for construction or home demolitions, surveillance and security, transport and maintenance, pollution and dumping of waste, and use of natural resources including water and land.
The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, the steering group for the Palestinian-led BDS campaign, welcomed the release of the database, which came “despite bullying by [President Donald] Trump and Israel’s far-right government.”
It added that “these companies must be held to account, including through strategic boycotts and divestment campaigns.”
Israel reacted to the publication of the list with rage.Gilad Erdan, the country’s minister of strategic affairs, claimed that it “proves once again the UN’s consistent anti-Semitism and Israel-hatred.”
Unable to defend its violations of international law, Israel now routinely smears even the mildest critics as anti-Semites.
Well-known brands
The database includes Israeli firms and well-known international brands such as travel companies Airbnb, Booking.com and TripAdvisor, construction equipment maker JCB, real estate company Re/Max, train maker Alstom, US food giant General Mills and electronics firm Motorola.
General Mills owns dozens of familiar supermarket brands including Häagen-Dazs, Yoplait and Cheerios.
Also on the list is Mayer’s Cars and Trucks, the Israeli agent for Sweden-based equipment maker Volvo. But Volvo itself is not listed.
Volvo provides equipment for destroying Palestinian property, trucks to transport waste to illegal dumps and armored buses for settlements.
Also notably absent from the list is Caterpillar, long a target of campaigners for selling construction equipment used by Israel to build settlements and destroy Palestinian homes.
Its Israeli agent, Israel Tractors and Equipment, also does not appear on the list despite Caterpillar’s documented role in settlement expansion and providing the Israeli army with bulldozers that are used as weapons.
The BDS National Committee pointed to other major omissions: G4S, Hewlett-Packard companies, Hyundai Heavy Industries, HeidelbergCement, Cemex and Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems.
Israeli firms that are on the UN list include major banks, which finance the theft of Palestinian land, and Israel’s national water company Mekorot, which pillages Palestinian water.
Israeli supermarket chain Shufersal, which runs stores and supply chains in settlements, is also on the list.
That is notable because several European Union embassies have run joint promotions of their countries’ products with the firm, despite Shufersal being a settlement profiteer. The EU claims to oppose Israeli settlements.
Israeli pressure
The UN database was originally supposed to be released three years ago.
Israel and the US have been determined to stop its publication, fearing it could provide a major boost to efforts to hold Israel accountable and force companies to stop helping Israel violate Palestinian rights.
Israel planned “to do everything it can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day,” Danny Danon, the country’s ambassador to the UN, said in 2017.
The database is clearly not comprehensive and is limited only to businesses involved in activities specified by the UN Human Rights Council mandate.
As its authors acknowledge, the “database does not cover all business activity related to settlements, and does not extend to wider business activity in the occupied Palestinian territory that may raise human rights concerns.”
An example of the types of activities the database does not cover is investing in firms involved in Israeli crimes.
France-based insurer Axa, for example, is under pressure from activists to divest from Israeli weapons makers and banks that finance settlements.
Axa is not included in the UN database.
Nevertheless, campaigners see the publication of the database as an important first step and a tool to push for accountability.Human Rights Watch, one of the organizations that had criticized the UN for repeatedly delaying publication, welcomed the release of the database.
“The long-awaited release of the UN settlement business database should put all companies on notice: To do business with illegal settlements is to aid in the commission of war crimes,” Bruno Stagno, the group’s executive director for advocacy, said.
“The database marks critical progress in the global effort to ensure businesses end complicity in rights abuse and respect international law.”
The UN is expected to update the list annually.
Note: An earlier version of this post erroneously stated that the UN database covers businesses active in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. According to the report itself the report excludes such businesses.
Comments
UN
Permalink Frank Dallas replied on
Dilatory and timid it may be, but it is a serious blow to a regime which has to hide its racism and apartheid behind a transparent veneer of democracy. Hence the hysterical reaction from Netanyahu. His description of the UN as "uninfluential" is partly accurate, partly wish-fulfilment. The UN is not nearly so influential as it should be and it is dominated by the rich countries, inevitably; but it does have traction with the common folk who overwhelmingly support an international rule-bases system. Israel can't afford to have any truck with such a thing. Its pre-State days were characterised by terrorism: the Irgun, Lehi and the Hagana were vital in bringing the State of Israel into existence. Zionists assassinated Bernadotte, who had helped many Jews escape the Nazis, and made attempts on the lives of Winston Churchill (in spite of his support for Zionism), Eden and Bevin. After 1948, Israel simply acted in bad faith, as it does to this day, ignoring international law, refusing to accept agreed boundaries, riding roughshod over the Balfour commitment to protecting the interests of the Palestinians (bad as Balfour was, it at least had that minimal protection). Israel as a racist State, a State which denies democracy to the Palestinians and therefore can't be thought of as any kind of functioning democracy, can't accept a rule-base order. It is a bad boy. A delinquent State. Like Trump, it wants all rules which get in the way of what it wants swept aside. The UN has done a little little, but it has done well. That the reaction of the Israelis is so disproportionate is evidence of their paranoia. All unjust regimes are beset by paranoia. It is now for us to push BDS ever harder, to embarrass these companies which toy with tyranny. Don't play with apartheid. Remember? Don't trade with tyranny. Right is on our side which is why they are flailing and crying about unfairness. The international tide is slowly turning against Israel's racism. Small victory, but vital.
Truth is
Permalink Erin and Jeffrey Schmittò replied on
If it was APARTEID in South Africa ( look deep into whom was beta ? Testing it there)....it's APARTEID in Israel. The majority of the world using boycotts changed that government, it's still a work in progress. As humanity we must allow no supremacy that includes payback..stop that. No cycles of SUBJUGATION.