New York, NY . . . Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, not to publicly disseminate the “blacklist” of companies doing business in or with Israelis living in settlements. The blatantly discriminatory “blacklist” was compiled pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council in March 2016.
At the time the resolution was passed, the Conference of Presidents leaders called it “a further stain on the legitimacy of the Human Rights Council and stands as yet another insult to the millions of victims of human rights violations around the world whose desperate plight the Council has neither the inclination nor the time to address because of its lopsided focus on Israel.”
Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Hoenlein said, “The resolution is one of the most repugnant examples of the Council’s abusive manipulation of human rights principles to target Israel and should be repudiated. The UN High Commissioner is not required by the resolution to disseminate the ‘blacklist’ and, at the very least, he should not make it publicly available.
Publishing the ‘blacklist’ will set back the cause of human rights and the prospects for peace. It will call into question the High Commissioner’s reputation for fairness, undermine his role as an advocate for the cause of human rights, and further damage the badly tarnished standing of the Human Rights Council.
We appreciate the strong opposition of the United States administration to the ‘blacklist’ and the efforts to prevent the further unwarranted damage to Israel that would be caused by its publication.
The resolution and the ‘blacklist’ legitimize the unscrupulous exploitation of the Human Rights Council, give aid to the promoters of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and make it even more difficult to achieve progress toward resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”
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