The Hyundai Construction Equipment (Hyundai CE) contributes to Israeli war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Documentation produced by Amnesty International and Democracy for the Arab World (Dawn) and provided to the company is unequivocal: five times in 2022, excavators manufactured by Hyundai CE were used to demolish Palestinian properties in Masafer Yatta.
I am 1150 Palestinians who risk forced eviction: are war crimes, under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
In the 1980s, a large portion of Masafer Yatta’s territory was declared “closed military zone” for the purpose of military exercises. Since then, the inhabitants are constantly under threat of demolition and are subjected to attacks and intimidation by settlers and the Israeli army.
In May 2022, the Israeli High Court gave green light for the demolition of nine villages of the area. They have been running ever since dozens of demolitions: may turn out one of the largest forced transfers of Palestinian civilians since 1967.
In the correspondence held since January 2023 with the two human rights organizations, Hyundai CE stated that it was not “involved in activities related to Israeli settlements”. An insufficient answer, which does not address the issue ofuse by the Israeli army of its excavators to complete the demolitions at Masafer Yatta.
A couple of examples: On February 15, 2022 Israeli forces used a Hyundai HX330AL excavator to demolish a house and a cistern in the village of Khallet al-Mayah; in July, two HW210 and HX300AL excavators they were used to demolish two houses in the village of Umm Qussa.
Amnesty International and Dawn have also written to EFCO Ltd., the exclusive distributor of Hyundai products in Israel, but have received no reply to date. THE United Nations Principles on Business and Human Rights unequivocally state that companies have a duty to respect human rights in the places where they operate and to remedy human rights violations to which, even indirectly, they have contributed.
There is a clear theme of lack of due diligence by Hyundai CE with respect to its business activities in Israel. The company was supposed to lead a risk analysis on the likelihood of its products being used by the Israeli army to commit human rights violations.
It is not yet too late: it would be enough for Hyundai CE, through EFCO Ltd., suspended the distribution of its products in Israel waiting for assurances from its customers that these products are not being used to carry out illegal activities.
Above all, it would be enough for Hyundai CE to respect its Human Rights Guidelinespublished on 20 July 2022. “The company – we read – rejects any violation of human rights connected to its activities and undertakes to remedy violations of the rights of local communities”.