Room rental site threatened with legal action for listing West Bank as in Israel
Room rental website Airbnb has been threatened with legal action for listing rooms in Jewish settlements in the West Bank as being “in Israel”.
Palestinian leaders said the company’s location references were “strikingly illegal,” adding that it was “profiting from occupation”.
Some rooms for rent were advertised as having views of “spectacular Judean landscape” while others boasted of the area’s “tranquillity”.
The company issued a short statement in response, saying: “We follow laws and regulations on where we can do business and investigate concerns raised about specific listings.”
Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, said: “Airbnb can and should immediately exclude all Israeli settlements from its offerings as a significant first step towards complying with its human rights obligations under international law.”
The Israeli ministry responsible for tourism recommended people “visiting and staying in every place throughout the country, as no distinction can be made between one place and the next”.
Meanwhile, settler leader Miri Maoz-Ovadia said the Israeli settlements benefited from “a thriving tourism industry, with hundreds of unique B&Bs that offer breath-taking views and world-class service”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
