UN blacklist of firms complicit in Israeli settlement activity more than doubles

The number of businesses that the UN has listed as complicit in illegal Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank has more than doubled, with the addition of 68 new firms.

The UN Human Rights Office released an updated list on Friday with a total of 158 companies, a 70 percent increase from 97 listed in 2023 when the database was last released. 

The database highlights firms involved in activities in the settlements, including providing equipment for construction, demolition and surveillance, and assisting with banking operations. 

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said: “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."

Most of the listed companies are based in Israel, but others are located in several European countries, China, Canada, the United Kingdom and the US.

Newcomers include German-based Hedelberg Materials, Steconfer, a rail systems provider in Portugal, and Ineco, a Spanish transportation engineering company.

Several travel companies including Expedia Group, Bookings Holdings Inc and Airbnb, Inc have remained on the list.

Seven firms listed in 2023 have been removed "as they were no longer involved in any of the activities concerned", the UN Human Rights Office said. 

The UN said it had received submissions concerning 596 businesses after a public call for input last year, but had only been able to review 215 "in the light of available resources and wider liquidity constraints" it faced.

The jump in the number of listed firms comes as observers and rights groups warn of a dramatic escalation in state-backed settler violence displacing Palestinian communities across the West Bank.

At least 2,894 Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence since January 2023, with 740 settler violence incidents recorded between January and June of this year, according to the UN.