AIPAC, the pro-Israel Jewish lobby in the United States, on Monday praised the Biden administration for its opposition to a UN blacklist of companies operating in Judea and Samaria.
“AIPAC applauds the Biden admin's principled opposition to the UNHRC updating its discriminatory blacklist against Israel,” the organization tweeted.
“The blacklist is yet another UN-backed attack on the Jewish state and is clearly designed to target US and Israeli companies for boycotts & punitive actions,” it added.
The United States last week expressed opposition to the UN blacklist. The State Department confirmed that it had approached the UN human rights office with concerns about the list, which was first published in 2020.
The United States "continues to oppose any work to update it" and has raised concerns "directly with the Office of the High Commissioner" for rights, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel was quoted by AFP as having told reporters.
The initial list included 112 companies which operate in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The UN said that the companies, including Airbnb, Expedia, and TripAdvisor, violate international law by continuing to operate in the Jewish communities in the area.
The initial publication -- which listed US companies including Airbnb, Expedia and TripAdvisor -- was denounced by the then administration of Donald Trump, which had reversed longstanding US opposition to settlements in the West Bank.
Then-Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz responded to the publication of the list, saying that "the UN Human Rights Council's announcement of the ‘blacklist’ of business companies is a shameful surrender to the pressures of countries and organizations interested in hurting Israel, even though most countries in the world have refused to join this political pressure campaign."
Then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also condemned the publication, saying, "The US has not and will never provide any information to support the compilation of these lists. We call on UN member states to join us in rejecting this effort. Attempts to isolate Israel damage momentum toward Israeli-Palestinian negotiations."
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley criticized the UN Human Rights Council over the move, tweeting at the time, "The UN hit a new low today publishing its Antisemitic blacklist of companies it claims are involved in Israeli ‘settlement activity.’ The timing of this after the U.S. released a peace plan is conniving & manipulative at best. Shameful."