UN adds over 60 companies to Israel blacklist

(Sept. 26, 2026 / JNS) The United Nations’ human rights office added 61 companies to a blacklist of businesses with activities in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, in an annual report released on Friday. The Database of Business Enterprises now holds details on 214 companies, based in 11 countries, including major operations like Motorola, along with travel apps such as Airbnb , Booking.com and Tripadvisor. Five entities were removed since last year’s publication. The blacklist is issued by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 6 The United Nations Headquarters building is pictured on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York City. NurPhoto via Getty Images 6 UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. AFP via Getty Images 6 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the third day of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York City on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. Kyle Mazza/CNP / SplashNews.com It was created in 2020 under a UN Human Rights Council resolution mandate during the tenure of Michelle Bachelet, who dropped out of the race for UN secretary-general on Sept. 19, 2026, after the former Chilean president received the support of only one of the 15 UN Security Council members. “This is a distorted mechanism—created by a deeply flawed body with an automatic majority against Israel. It was established solely to persecute the Jewish state, with no equivalent anywhere else in the world,” the Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva said in a statement. No such blacklist is applied by the United Nations to any other disputed or occupied territories. 6 An Israeli settlement is seen under construction in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, on Aug. 9, 2026. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images 6 Israeli forces stand guard as excavators demolish a Palestinian house in Khalet al-Homus, near the town of Yatta in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. AFP via Getty Images The United Nations claims Jewish communities beyond the 1949 armistice lines are in occupied Palestinian territory. Companies taking part in construction, surveillance, demolitions and destruction of agricultural land in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem are supposed to be placed on the list, which has been updated just twice before despite a yearly report mandate. Explore More Ukraine airdrops killer robots behind enemy lines to take out 3K Russian troops Mojtaba Khamenei had to be ‘pulled from the rubble’ of hospital after US strikes nearly killed him a second time: report 4 Americans killed after building collapses in Athens, Greece on day they were set to leave city Some 381 companies out of 596 reported for potential violations have been reviewed. The Israeli mission called the database “a political tool employed by the Office of the High Commissioner to advance a smear campaign against business enterprises that committed no wrongdoing.” 6 An Israeli military excavator demolishes a Palestinian building as buildings in the Israeli settlement of Har Bracha are pictured in the background, on the outskirts of Nablus in the West Bank, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. AFP via Getty Images The database and accompanying report serve as a “reminder to companies that they have human rights responsibilities,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement on Friday, adding that businesses “are expected to conduct due diligence to ensure that they do not become involved in human rights violations or abuses.” The companies in the database are based in Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. “By amplifying and inflating the so-called ‘database,’ OHCHR plays an active role in compounding the discriminatory treatment of Israel among the human rights bodies,” the Israeli mission said. “Deterring business enterprises and other entities from operating in conflict-affected territories may in itself promote adverse human rights impacts,” the mission added. “The stark reality is that the database damages the livelihoods of the population whose rights it ostensibly deems to promote.”