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Airbnb to Remove its Rental Listings in Judea & Samaria

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Airbnb spokesperson Nick Papas declined to answer when asked if this is the first time there has been a ban in a conflict zone, and if there will also be a ban in the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem as well as in Palestinian areas of the territories.

The online marketplace and hospitality service Airbnb announced on Monday that it will no longer permit listings in Judea and Samaria due to what it alleges as “Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians,” according to a company statement.

“We know that people will disagree with this decision and appreciate their perspective. This is a controversial issue,” the company said. “There are many strong views as it relates to lands that have been the subject of historic and intense disputes between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. Airbnb has deep respect for those views.”

“Our hope is that someday sooner rather than later, a framework is put in place where the entire global community is aligned so there will be a resolution to this historic conflict and a clear path forward for everybody to follow,” added Airbnb.

Airbnb spokesperson Nick Papas declined to answer when asked by JNS if this is the first time there has been a ban in a conflict zone, and if there will also be a ban in the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem as well as in Palestinian areas of the disputed territories.

Airbnb has had a mixed reception in Israel. As of last month, some Tel Aviv luxury property developers have prohibited owners from leasing through the website.

However, Airbnb was applauded in 2016 for waiving service fees and allowing hosts to list for free during a wave of fires that swept through Israel.

Some slammed the decision, while others celebrated it.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren called for a boycott of Airbnb.

“Airbnb blacklists Jewish apartments in Judea and Samaria – not Palestinian apartments, not apartments in Turkish occupied Cyprus, in Moroccan occupied Sahara, not in Tibet or the Crimea,” he tweeted. “Airbnb’s policy is the very definition of anti-Semitism. No one should use its services.”

“.@airbnb says it won’t list places in ‘disputed territories’ when those residences are owned by Jews, and not otherwise,” tweeted law professor Eugene Kontorvich. “That’s not a policy about disputed territories, but about Jews.”

“The discriminatory nature of this decision is only rivaled by the degree of sheer ignorance that went into it. Given the fact that in July of 2000, former Israeli Prime Ehud Barak had offered the Palestinians 92 percent of the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria, if you will, and the Palestinians walked away from the table,” Sarah Stern, founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, told JNS. “The response came a few months later in the form of a renewed intifada.

“Yet the Israelis are the ones that are being punished by companies such as Airbnb,” she continued. “When Israel and Israelis are being held to a double standard that no one else in the world could be expected to meet, there is one and only one word for this: anti-Semitism.”

Farley Weiss, president of the National Council of Young Israel, said “it should be noted that the international definition of anti-Semitism includes support for BDS. Airbnb’s action could be interpreted as supporting BDS and engaging in anti-Semitic conduct, especially when the de-listing appears to be based upon the religion of those who have the rentals.”

            (JNS.org)

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