In 2016, the UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution for the creation of the database, which is intended to list all companies doing business with Israelis situated in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, but its release has since been repeatedly delayed. The companies threatened with inclusion on the UN blacklist include Bezeq telecommunications, Teva Pharmaceutical industries, and beverages giant Coca Cola.

Despite promises of publicly disclosing a blacklist, the process has once again been delayed in March 2019.

Israeli officials has slammed the plan as a “blacklist” meant to encourage boycotts of the Jewish state, and Washington has also expressed concerns over the database. Pro-Palestinian activists have for years encouraged boycotts of companies doing business with Israeli settlements, such as Caterpillar and G4S.