On November 19, 2018, Airbnb issued a press release announcing it was “removing listings” in “Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank.” This change in policy was a clear result of a coordinated and well-financed campaign targeting the company by NGOs involved in BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel.
On May 28, 2018, Human Rights Watch issued yet another publication targeting Israeli banks. These materials are part of HRW’s continuing role in a broader BDS campaign to damage Israel’s economy through the financial sector.
The Israeli Ministry of Interior has revoked the work visa granted in April 2017 to Human Rights Watch (HRW) employee Omar Shakir, a long-time anti-Israel, pro-BDS activist. In its response, HRW (and its local lawyer, Michael Sfard) makes the false claim that “neither HRW – nor Shakir as its representative – advocate for boycott, divestment or sanctions against companies that operate in the settlements, Israel or Israelis (sic).”
In advance of the 37th Council session (February 26 - March 23, 2018), the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released a report on the “BDS blacklist” of companies that do business with Israelis over the 1949 Armistice Line. The report, submitted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, provides important details on the flawed process and the difficulties inherent in creating a list of companies to be targeted by this form of BDS.
NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Al Haq, have been advocating for a discriminatory blacklist for many years to advance a BDS agenda. However, this does nothing to further human rights, and the UN should not devote further resources to this charade.
On November 14, 2017, US Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) proposed legislation “to prevent United States tax dollars from supporting the Israeli military’s ongoing detention and mistreatment of Palestinian children” – Bill van Esveld of Human Rights Watch (HRW) published an article on HuffPost in support of the bill. The opinion piece was only one example of HRW staffers promoting McCollum’s legislation.
As part of its ongoing BDS campaign against Israel, Human Rights Watch published a report and press release targeting Israel banks. This represents HRW’s third major BDS initiative in 2017 alone.
NGO Monitor will confront the UNHRC and its NGO allies, exposing their double standards towards Israel in preparing a blacklist of companies allegedly engaging in business activities in the West Bank, while completely ignoring areas with more far-reaching activitiesof companies allegedly engage
The Amuta for NGO Responsibility, in Special Consultative with ECOSOC, submitted the following information regarding the preparation of a discriminatory blacklist aimed at entities doing business over the 1949 Armistice Lines.
NGO Monitor commends the UNHRC for its expected postponement of a discriminatory blacklist, but condemns the concerted efforts to single-out Israel among all the countries of the world.
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