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The UN Blacklist, U.S. Laws, and U.S. Policy

(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Orde Kittrie - The "database" of companies doing business with Israeli settlements published on Wednesday by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is inconsistent with U.S. law and policy. U.S. law, at 19 U.S.C. 4452(b)(4), states that Congress "opposes politically motivated actions that penalize or otherwise limit commercial relations specifically with Israel, such as boycotts of, divestment from, or sanctions against Israel." In addition, compliance with the blacklist could be inconsistent with the U.S. anti-boycott statute (50 U.S.C. 4842), which has long been used to punish compliance with boycotts (and blacklists) fostered by the Arab League. The blacklist also lacks a basis in international law. Indeed, international law does not prohibit business in disputed territories. Finally, the legitimacy of the database is also thrown into doubt by the very makeup of the UNHRC, which includes many of the world's worst human rights violators. Current UNHRC members sitting in judgment of Israel include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, and Venezuela. There are more than 100 territorial disputes in the world today, yet only the West Bank and east Jerusalem were singled out for such a database. The writer is a senior fellow at FDD.
2020-02-14 00:00:00
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