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Airbnb Backtracks on West Bank Boycott – UPDATED!

israelnationalnews.com

Airbnb announced that its policy of boycotting Jewish properties in Judea and Samaria would not be carried out in practice.

The announcement follows a meeting between officials from Airbnb and Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin.

The Tourism Ministry called the decision “a step in the right direction,” a reference to the fact that the initial decision to boycott the Jewish homes was not officially reversed but will merely not be implemented.

Minister Levin said that he will continue to act to ensure that all Israeli citizens will receive equal treatment and will continue to strengthen tourism in Israel, including in Judea and Samaria.

Last month, the online rental marketplace announced that it will no longer list homes in Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria. About 200 homes in Judea and Samaria had been listed on Airbnb prior to the announcement.

Airbnb justified the decision by stating that it had developed a new five point checklist for handling listings in “occupied territories.” and had “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.”

Critics have accused Airbnb of discrimination against Jews as it continues to list properties in Judea and Samaria that are not owned by Jews and has not delisted any properties in any other conflict zone, including Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, Russian-occupied Crimea, or Chinese occupied Tibet, among others.

UPDATE: Online rental company says merely attempting to determine how to implement policy after meeting with Tourism Minister.

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9 Comments

    • anti semitism

      Yup I agree
      Anti antisemitism should not even be on paper or any legal books!!!

  • OUTDATED

    they came out again and said that they are NOT cancelling it, see site this is taken from

  • Pepsi

    I remember going with my parents to a cafeteria in Tell Aviv, Summer of 1975 and seeing a Pepsi soda machine, only to be told by the waitress after I ordered that I couldn’t have Pepsi because Pepsi was then boycotting Israel. Quite a shock for an 11 year old kid from NY Pepsi’s boycott of Israel may be ancient history by now, but the impression on an 11 year old of Pepsi boycotting Israel left such a bad feeling that I still avoid buying Pepsi, even today over 40 years later. I think if these companies realized the harm they do to their brand by taking part in these anti-Semitic boycotts they wouldn’t.

  • NOT CLEAR

    It seems to be unclear both statements came from Airbnb one from AirbnbIsrael the other in English

  • 2rben

    they made their statement already by boycotting. the rest is just about money. They support BDS and the whole package and they don’t deserve to get full usage back.

  • Yeah well

    Not using them again anyway. They showed their true colors. To me, there’s no backtracking after that.