In July, Who Profts from the Occupation reported that equipment manufactured by the Japanese company Hitachi had been used in home demolitions, in occupied East Jerusalem and in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Al-Sayyid in the Negav (Naqab) desert. According to Who Profits from the Occupation, the Hitachi model used during these demolitions was mainly the ZX250LC-5 track excavator.

In its response to the above reports, provided to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre on 11 September, Hitachi states that 'Hitachi’s official distributor in Israel has not sold equipment to the Israeli military nor military-related entities. Nor have we sold the model ZX250LC-5 mentioned in the report in the country. Furthermore, Hitachi’s distributorship agreement in Israel contains a clause prohibiting distributor to sell equipment to entities that may disturb peace. Our conclusion is therefore that the piece of Hitachi equipment referred to in the report has not been sold directly by Hitachi but instead was likely imported as used equipment from a different country. Nevertheless, we are troubled that our products were found to be in use in OPT, without our authorization or intent.'

Both the report by Who Profts by the Occupation and the response from Hitachi are below.