UN lists 150 firms tied to illegal Israeli settlements

Report exposes global firms profiting from Israel’s unlawful settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations has released a report, revealing that more than 150 companies, including Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor, are profiting from Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank.

The UN human rights office on Friday updated its database, listing 158 firms operating inside settlements deemed unlawful by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

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While most of the companies are Israeli, the list also includes multinationals registered in the United States, Canada, China, France, and Germany.

The report emphasised that businesses have a duty to avoid fuelling abuses.

“Where business enterprises identify that they have caused or contributed to adverse human rights impacts, they should provide for or cooperate in remediation through appropriate processes,” it said.

The update added 68 companies since the last publication in June 2023, and it removed seven firms, including British-registered online travel company Opodo and Spanish-domiciled online travel agent eDreams.

The majority of the other firms were tied to construction, real estate, mining, and quarrying sectors that are central to Israel’s settlement expansion efforts. More than 300 additional firms remain under review.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the findings highlight corporate responsibility in conflict zones.

“This report underscores the due diligence responsibility of businesses working in contexts of conflict to ensure their activities do not contribute to human rights abuses,” he said.

Israeli strategy to displace Palestinians

The review comes amid heightened scrutiny of Israel’s occupation and ongoing apartheid in the West Bank and the ongoing genocide it has been committing in Gaza since October 2023.

In the West Bank, armed Jewish settlers, emboldened by government backing, have terrorised Palestinian communities, killing civilians, displacing families, and grabbing land in what human rights groups describe as ethnic cleansing.

Settlements have been expanding relentlessly since Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 war, carving up the territory with roads, walls, and checkpoints that keep Palestinians confined and under military rule.

A separate UN Commission of Inquiry this week accused Israel of pursuing a deliberate strategy to forcibly displace Palestinians, entrench Jewish-only settlements, and move towards full annexation of the West Bank.

Civil society groups say the database, mandated by the Human Rights Council in 2016, provides a vital tool to pressure companies to withdraw from settlements. Rights advocates argue that international firms helping Israel entrench its occupation are complicit in violations of international law.

Both Israel and the United States have long attacked the UN for what they claim is unfair attention to Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, but for Palestinians, the new list is another reminder of the machinery sustaining a decades-long occupation.