© MondoweissIn 2014, 232 organizations across the United States and in seventeen countries worldwide signed a letter calling on Ben & Jerry's to end its commercial ties to illegal Israeli settlements. Despite what it knew and the values that defined its corporate identity, Ben & Jerry’s refused to stop the Israeli franchise from making money selling in the settlements.
In March 2016, the UN Human Rights Council ordered the compilation of this database, delegating its high commissioner Zeid al-Hussein to "investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on Palestinians."
Israeli officials say that about 100 local companies that operate in the West Bank and east Jerusalem have received warning letters that they will be on the list. Some 50 international companies, mostly American and European, have also been warned.
The companies have not yet been publicly identified, but an Israeli official revealed, on condition of anonymity, that the blacklist would include Israeli banks, restaurant chains, bus lines, security firms, supermarkets as well as overseas companies that work in settlements or provide equipment or services to build them.
"We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day," Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told the Associated Press.
Comment: Combatting the successful BDS groundswell campaign which threatens to increase if the UN blacklist becomes public.