UN identifies 214 firms linked to Israeli settlements

The UN human rights office updated its database of companies operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, listing 214 firms from 11 countries, having added 61 and removed five since last year. Airbnb, Booking.com, Motorola Solutions and Tripadvisor remain on the roster, which for the first time classifies 200 firms as contributing to adverse impacts on Palestinian self-determination and 14 as directly linked to human rights impacts.

UN rights chief Volker Türk called the report a reminder that companies have human rights responsibilities and should conduct due diligence in conflict zones. Israel's mission in Geneva dismissed the entire exercise as a distorted mechanism established solely to persecute the Jewish state.

The database, first published in 2020, has been updated only twice before despite an annual mandate, and the office has reviewed just 381 of 596 submitted company names. More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements the report notes are illegal under international law, alongside roughly 3 million Palestinians.

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