UN Pares Down List of Firms Doing Business with Israeli Settlements

A general view shows the Jewish settlement of Kedar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 25, 2023. (Reuters)
A general view shows the Jewish settlement of Kedar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 25, 2023. (Reuters)
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UN Pares Down List of Firms Doing Business with Israeli Settlements

A general view shows the Jewish settlement of Kedar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 25, 2023. (Reuters)
A general view shows the Jewish settlement of Kedar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 25, 2023. (Reuters)

The UN rights office has updated a list of companies doing business with Israeli settlements, removing 15 companies from the database that were no longer involved, a spokesperson said on Friday.

The long-awaited update was limited in scope due to budget restrictions and was only able to review the original list of 112 companies, UN human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing.

The database was mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in 2016 but was not released until 2020.

Most of the firms it named were domiciled in Israel, but it also included international firms listed in the United States, Britain and France, among others.



Trump’s Middle East Envoy Says Progress Being Made on Israeli Hostages in Gaza

Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump’s Middle East Envoy Says Progress Being Made on Israeli Hostages in Gaza

Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)

President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday he hopes to have good things to report about Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza by the time Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

Witkoff, at a press conference held by Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, said: "I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the President."

Republican Trump said of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas in the Oct. 7 2024 attack on Israel: "If the hostages are not back by the time I'm in office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone."