United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein. Photo: UN Photo / Pierre Albouy.

JNS.org – The World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Wednesday slammed threats by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to blacklist 150 Israeli and international companies for doing business in the disputed territories.

“It is most unfortunate that an important UN body would blackmail global businesses into joining a hypocritical international boycott campaign against Israel,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer.

In August, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein submitted a draft of the blacklist to the countries where the businesses are based.

The UNHRC is slated to publish the database — which reportedly includes American firms such as Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline and Airbnb — by the end of this year.

Several Israeli firms — including Israel’s two largest banks, Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi — are also included on the list, as well as businesses from Germany, South Korea and Norway.

The WJC delivered an address Sept. 25 at the UNHRC calling on it to desist from publishing the blacklist.

“The World Jewish Congress reiterates its strong opposition to the publication of this shameful and counterproductive blacklist,” said Caroline Lea Elbaze, a member of the WJC’s Jewish Diplomatic Corps.

“This blacklist is another example of the UN’s rampant bias and double standard against Israel,” she added. “Another action serving only to single out Israel.”

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has threatened to cut funding to the UNHRC if it publishes the database.