Israel's Foreign Ministry, its UN mission and officials working on the international level are making intensive efforts to prevent additional countries from joining a boycott of Israeli companies that also operate in Judea and Samaria.
After the UN published an expanded list of companies over the weekend, including some of the largest firms in the Israeli economy, the Netherlands issued a sweeping order against imports of products from Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. The measure also includes inspections of Israelis' belongings upon entering the country.
Israel Hayom has learned that behind the scenes, efforts are underway to dissuade additional countries with ties to Israel that are planning to announce similar boycott initiatives in the near future.
Diplomatic officials said that, amid concerns that diplomatic measures against Israel could gather momentum, the Foreign Ministry had from the outset taken severe steps against Britain, including closing the British Consulate and expelling its representatives from the headquarters in Kiryat Gat.
British officials have recently asked Israel at various levels to reverse those measures, but Israel has refused and is considering further diplomatic steps against countries seeking to establish boycott policies targeting Israel as a whole.
Israel Hayom has also learned that Israel is working at the UN alongside the US mission in an effort to influence the selection of the next secretary-general, in the hope that it will be possible to work with the new UN chief to scrap the blacklist drawn up against Israel or reduce its impact.
Israel and the US have concluded that such a move cannot be advanced with current UN Secretary-General António Guterres. They are therefore awaiting the end of his term at the end of this calendar year and are working to promote the selection of a successor whom they do not regard as overtly anti-Israel.
Responding over the weekend to the UN blacklist, the Foreign Ministry said: "The blacklist was created solely to harm Israel and has no equivalent anywhere else in the world. We categorically reject the blacklist and all the assumptions on which it is based. This is not a legitimate or appropriate human rights mechanism.
"UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has turned himself into the high commissioner for boycotts against Israel. During his years in office, he has worked to establish wasteful mechanisms whose sole purpose is to persecute the State of Israel. It would be best if the man who led the institution entrusted to him into moral and financial bankruptcy went home.
"Israel is proud of its strong and stable economy, and of the fact that, unlike the Office of the High Commissioner, Israeli business activity in Judea and Samaria provides jobs for Palestinians, serves as a bridge between communities in the region and offers an example of coexistence."
