​Madame President,
 
The shameful release of a database, or blacklist, of companies doing business with Israelis is a new low for OHCHR and this council. That OHCHR and this council do not have the competence or the jurisdiction to oversee businesses is of no concern to those who exploit this council as a weapon against Israel. When it comes to Israel at the UN, the question of precedence is routinely thrown out the window. New, special rules are put in place to accommodate the most destructive of ideas.
 
A special standard of procedures put in place for the sole nation-state of the Jewish people—embodied not just by the only OHCHR and HRC-backed blacklist, consisting almost exclusively of Israeli companies, but also by this very agenda item, which is the only country-specific agenda item—is inherently anti-Jewish in nature. It does damage to the long-term legitimacy of this council, OHCHR and the UN as a whole.
 
Threats against doing business with Israel are not new, and boycotts against “Jewish-owned” businesses go back even further. To those who vote in favor of economic warfare against the Jewish state, we say: we are not intimidated and we will not be defeated. Israel will continue to thrive economically, culturally and as a humane, diverse and democratic state.
 
Thank you, Madame President.