Israel slams UNHRC's decision to "blacklist" occupation-linked companies

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Thursday a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to create a list of companies operating in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu called on governments around the world "not to honor" the resolution, which calls for the creation of businesses that are profiting from the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the annexed Golan Highest.

"The UN Human Rights Council has become an anti-Israel circus," he said in a statement released on his behalf. "It attacks the only democracy in the Middle East and ignores the gross violations of Iran, Syria and North Korea," Netanyahu said.

Accusing the UNHRC of "absurdity," Netanyahu stated that "instead of dealing with the Palestinians' terrorist attacks and those of Daesh in Europe, it decides to condemn Israel."

The decision, passed by a 32-15 majority, was opposed by the United States with European Union nations abstaining the vote.

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast War, and later annexed east Jerusalem, claiming it as part of its "undividable" capital. The Golan Highest, originally a Syrian territory, was seized in the same war and also annexed. The international community has never recognized the annexations and deems the settlements as a violation of international law. Endit