On Friday 25 September 2026, the UN human rights office added 61 companies to its database of businesses involved in activities linked to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the UN considers unlawful, bringing the total number listed to 214.
Impact of listing on companies’ operations
Companies in the database could face boycott or divestment campaigns aimed at pressuring Israel over settlement expansion in the West Bank, home to more than 3 million Palestinians. The list mostly comprises Israeli companies, alongside firms from 10 other countries, including the United States, China, France and Germany.
Companies added in the latest update include Israel-based Adama, a pesticides maker that is part of China’s Syngenta Group; Israel-based real-estate investment holding company Alony-Hetz; and Spanish firm Salvat Logistica. The companies did not respond to requests for comment on their inclusion.
The new companies joined businesses already listed, including travel agency Expedia and home-rental company Airbnb. The office classifies the businesses across sectors including energy, food, hospitality, transport and agriculture, based on confidential submissions it received.
Review of companies added and removed
The office assessed about 60 additional companies but did not list them after finding they did not meet UN criteria concerning involvement in activities violating Palestinians’ right to self-determination. It also removed companies from the original list after receiving requests for reassessment.
Those removed included UK-registered online travel company Opodo and Spain-based online travel agency eDreams. The UN found reasonable grounds to believe that neither company remained involved in the activities on which its earlier listing was based.
eDreams announced last year that it was withdrawing, saying it would continue to block accommodation listings in Israeli settlements that the UN considers unlawful. The company said at the time that some listings for such properties had appeared automatically on its website after being uploaded by their owners.
Expedia previously said that its listings in what it called “disputed areas” identified that classification. It added that it complied with international laws and sanctions, and that the listings were subject to enhanced due-diligence procedures based on UN standards. Israel rejected the database, considering the West Bank disputed territory.
It previously said the list unfairly damaged the reputation of companies it believed operated lawfully. Israel’s diplomatic mission to the UN said on Friday: “This is a distorted mechanism created by a deeply flawed body with an automatic majority against Israel,” accusing the database of being established to “persecute” Israel.
Israeli rejection and UN mechanism for updating the list
The database is based on UN Human Rights Council resolutions 31/36, issued in March 2016, and 53/25, issued in July 2023.
The first resolution asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to create a database of all business entities involved in specified activities linked to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory under Israeli control, including East Jerusalem. The second requires the office to update the list annually by adding or removing companies.
Paragraph 96 of the report by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission identified 10 types of activity that could form the basis for inclusion. They include supplying equipment that assists in building or expanding settlements; constructing the wall and its infrastructure; and providing surveillance and identification equipment used in settlements, the wall and related checkpoints.
The criteria also cover supplying equipment used to demolish homes and destroy farms, agricultural buildings, olive trees and crops; providing security services and equipment to businesses operating inside settlements; and supplying services and facilities that support their continued existence, including transport services.
The specified activities also include banking and financial operations that help develop, expand or maintain settlements, including housing loans and business development, as well as exploiting natural resources, particularly water and land, for commercial purposes.
The criteria also include polluting or dumping waste in Palestinian villages, or transporting it there; harming Palestinian financial and economic markets through restrictive practices; and using the profits and investments of businesses wholly or partly owned by settlers to develop and expand settlements. The list’s preparation began when the office published its first report on the methodology in 2018.
How the database has developed since its launch
In 2020, it issued the database’s first version, which included 112 companies. A revised update followed in 2023. In 2024, the office issued a report containing an updated methodology and preliminary data drawn from screening requests for information, a process opened in May that year.
The list’s expansion coincided with escalating settler attacks on Palestinians and the spread of settlement outposts, developments that prompted Britain, France and Canada to ban settlement imports during September.
