Barclays and BP are hardly strangers to criticism. But even those UK PLC heavyweights must have been taken aback when last week – along with the likes of Google, Amazon and educational institutions such as the the University of Edinburgh – they were accused by the United Nations of exploiting an “economy of genocide” by maintaining ties with Israel.

Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top U.N. expert on Palestinian rights, after the United States imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.