The UN human rights office said on Friday it has updated its list of companies doing business with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, removing 15 companies from the database that were no longer involved but retaining most of the international firms, Reuters reported.
The UN list was limited in scope due to budget restrictions and the rights office was only able to review the original list of 112 companies, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing.
Most of the firms named in the database when it was set up were domiciled in Israel but it also included international firms listed in the United States, Britain and France, among others.
Packaged food maker General Mills was one of only two international firms removed from the list. Among those that remained were online travel sites Booking.com and Expedia and home-rental company Airbnb, according to Reuters.
The UN rights office said that only 13 of the 112 companies listed cooperated on its update, without naming them.
The list was first published in 2020 and was denounced by the then administration of Donald Trump, which had reversed longstanding US opposition to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
Last December, the Biden administration expressed opposition to the UN blacklist as well.
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 said at the time.
"Our view is that this database only serves to reinforce an anti-Israel bias that too often finds traction in UN venues," he added.
"Also, this database poses a genuine threat to companies doing business or considering business operations in the region," said Patel.
Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva responded to the updating of the list and said on Friday, "By updating this list, unfortunately once again the (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights) and the Human Rights Council are further entrenching themselves as a partial actor in the region, serving those pursuing a discriminatory agenda against Israel."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)