Pictured Above: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein. Credit: U.N. Photo/Pierre Albouy.

(JNS.org) Israel and the U.S. are reportedly working vigorously to prevent the publication of a United Nations “blacklist” of companies that have business ties to the Jewish state, just weeks ahead of the database’s completion. 

“We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day,” said Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, The Associated Press reported Sunday.

Danon’s statement came after some 130 Israeli firms and 60 international corporations received warning letters in October from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, stating that their operations in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem put them at risk of being included on a U.N. blacklist.

Anne Herzberg, a U.N. expert and the legal advisor for the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor watchdog group, told JNS.org earlier this year that the blacklist “is the latest incarnation of the decades-long Arab boycott and yet another singling out of Israel by the U.N. Because Israel, the Jewish state, alone is singled out, the intent and impact is anti-Semitic.”

Some of the American firms included on the list are Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline and Airbnb, The Washington Post reported in August.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to publish the database by the end of this year.

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