Airbnb Picks Sides by Removing Listings from Israel’s West Bank Settlements
The popular hospitality service Airbnb picked sides Monday when the company announced it would not allow listings in Judea and Samaria, both of which are nestled in a disputed swath of land known as the West Bank.
“We concluded that we should remove listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians,” a statement on Airbnb’s website reads.
Some were quick to accuse executives at Airbnb of making a blatantly anti-Semitic decision:
.@airbnb says it won't list places in "disputed territories" when those residences are owned by Jews, and not otherwise. That's not a policy about disputed territories, but about Jews.
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) November 19, 2018
How do we know @Airbnb's policy is pure antiSemitism?
— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) November 19, 2018
1. Only delisting Jewish-owned properties.
2. Not delisting properties in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. https://t.co/zMlF8U5IoW
Just deactivated my @Airbnb account. The answer to absurd boycotts of Israel is to boycott the boycotters. Many of the areas affected will be part of Israel in any peace deal. I’d rather pay more in a hotel than subsidize antisemitism or support Palestinian terror. #BoycottAirbnb
— Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) November 19, 2018
.@Airbnb you guys suck. This is a dumb, dumb move. https://t.co/V0IZbtBIW8
— David Reaboi (@davereaboi) November 19, 2018
Unreal. No @Airbnb for me. Read this https://t.co/UkQMSF0KxL
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) November 19, 2018
Law professor Eugene Kontorovich of George Mason University, whose tweets are referenced above, pointed out Airbnb plans to specifically target “Israeli settlements” — not Arab settlements — in the West Bank, revealing the new policy to be a clear exercise in discrimination.
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Dr. Michael Oren, an American-born Israeli historian and Jewish politician, also highlighted the hypocrisy of the decision, noting Airbnb continues to allow listings in Turkish-occupied Cyprus, Moroccan-occupied Sahara, Chinese-occupied Tibet and Russian-occupied Crimea.
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