After Airbnb drops listings in Israeli settlements, Booking.com targeted
After Airbnb finally agreed to remove listings from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Human Rights Watch is putting pressure on Booking.com to do the same.
HRW is calling on Booking.com and other travel platforms to pull their listings which it says contributes to ‘serious rights abuses and entrenched discriminatory practices.’
It comes as HRW published the ‘Bed and Breakfast on Stolen Land’ report.
The Airbnb pull-out was described as a ‘surrender’ by Israel’s minister of strategic affairs Gilad Erdan.
"National conflicts exist all over the world, and the heads of Airbnb will have to explain why they chose to take a racist political stance against some of Israel’s citizens," he said.
Israel has threatened legal action against the company.
"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," Airbnb said.
"We must consider the impact we have and act responsibly."
Now Booking.com is being targeted.
"The continued business activities of Booking.com and other companies in settlements contribute to entrenching a two-tiered discriminatory regime in the West Bank," said Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at HRW.
Booking.com has only 26 properties in the occupied territories and told HRW its listings do not amount to material support for settlements.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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