(1) Airbnb faces Israeli class-action lawsuit for delisting settlements in West Bank (2) Israeli settler sues Airbnb for dropping West Bank listings (3) Class Action in Jerusalem Court Against Airbnb (4) Airbnb sued for pulling West Bank settlements (5) Simon Wiesenthal Center urges Jewish communities to boycott Airbnb for delisting Settlements (6) Tourism Minister willing to sacrifice Israel's tourism industry for settlements & fight against BDS (7) Germany votes for anti-Israel 'Decolonization' resolutions at UN General Assembly
(1) Airbnb faces Israeli class-action lawsuit for delisting settlements in West Bank Airbnb faces Israeli class-action lawsuit for delisting settlements, by Ori Lewis November 23, 2018 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Lawyers launched a class action lawsuit in Israel on Thursday against Airbnb, accusing the company of “outrageous discrimination” and demanding monetary damages after it withdrew listings of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The San Francisco-based company said this week it was removing listings of around 200 homes in settlements after hearing criticism from people who “believe companies should not profit on lands where people have been displaced”. Through her attorneys, Ma’anit Rabinovich from the West Bank settlement of Kida, who offers guest room rentals, said the move “represents especially grave, offensive and outrageous discrimination”. Rabinovich claimed 15,000 shekels ($2,573) in personal damages. The class action lawsuit would seek an as yet unspecified sum on behalf of others in the same situation, according to court papers presented at Jerusalem District Court. “The company’s decision is in effect directed solely against Israeli citizens living in the settlements, the petitioner claims, and this is severe, especially outrageous discrimination,” Rabinovich’s lawyers said in a statement. “(It is) part of the long war being conducted by organizations (of which a clear majority are anti-Semitic) against the State of Israel in its entirety, and against Israelis living in settlements in particular.” Palestinians who want to establish an independent state taking in the West Bank have welcomed Airbnb’s move. Most world powers view Israel’s construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land as a violation of international law, and Palestinians say it is wrong for companies to profit from them. “Airbnb took a decision in the right direction to stop dealings with Israeli settlements, consistent with international legitimacy,” Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior official with the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters. An Airbnb spokesman declined to comment on the filing of the lawsuit. In a statement emailed to Reuters on Tuesday, Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s global head of policy and communications, said: “Israel is a special place and our over 22,000 hosts are special people who have welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests to Israel. “We understand that this is a hard and complicated issue and we appreciate everyone’s perspective.” Airbnb’s delisting applies only to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinians have limited self rule under Israeli military occupation. It does not apply to Israel itself, or East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, territories Israel has annexed without international recognition. Israel withdrew settlers from another Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, more than a decade ago. Israel strongly objects to international boycotts, including boycotts of the settlements, which it views as discriminatory. A 2017 Israeli law empowers courts to award cash compensation to claimants who prove they have been denied goods or services because of where they live. Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Peter Graff and Alison Williams
(2) Israeli settler sues Airbnb for dropping West Bank listings https://www.jta.org/2018/11/23/news-opinion/israeli-settler-sues-airbnb-dropping-west-bank-listings November 23, 2018 6:42am (JTA) – An Israeli settler sued the Airbnb hosting platform over alleged discrimination over its decision to drop listings in West Bank settlements from its vacation rental website. The lawsuit, which cites Israel’s anti-discrimination laws, was filed with the Jerusalem District Court on Thursday on behalf of Ma’anit Rabinovich, The Jerusalem Post reported Friday. “The law in Israel forbids discrimination based on the place where you live, and what Airbnb has done is by all means discrimination based on the place where you live,” said attorney Aviel Flint, a partner in the law firm Yossi Levy & Co. which is representing Rabinovich. The case is based on a 2000 law against discrimination in products and services, which was amended in 2017 to include place of residence. The suit also names the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, which along with Human Rights Watch published an in-depth report on Airbnb and a on Booking.com, which offers hotel hosting. It called on both companies to remove the listings in the West Bank. Separately, Shurat HaDin, an Israeli human rights group which has taken up various pro-Israeli causes, is preparing a lawsuit with the Jerusalem District Court against Human Rights Watch for its involvement in the Airbnb move, the Kipa news site reported Thursday. Rabinovich lives in Kida, a West Bank Outpost. She has rented guests rooms through Airbnb. She heard of Airbnb’s decision in the media this week. The company has not contacted her over her own properties. Flint said he expects that the 200 people in Judea and Samaria who use Airbnb will join the suit, turning it into a class action. The lawsuit’s documents state that discrimination in this case was “particularly grave and outrageous” because Airbnb has pulled listings from only one disputed territory, the West Bank, while continuing to list rentals in other places of contention such as Tibet and northern Cyprus. The dispute between Russia and Georgia involved military invasions, and despite that, Airbnb still offered 300 apartments there for rent, the petition stated. The petition quoted explanations from Airbnb that it respects local laws and customs. “Airbnb recognizes that some jurisdictions permit, or require, distinctions among individuals based on factors such as national origin, gender, marital status or sexual orientation, and it does not require hosts to violate local laws or take actions that may subject them to legal liability,” the company has stated.
(3) Class Action in Jerusalem Court Against Airbnb https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Class-action-suit-filed-in-Jerusalem-court-against-Airbnb-572624 The court petition stated that the discrimination in this case was “particularly grave and outrageous” because Airbnb has pulled listings from only one disputed territory, the West Bank. BY TOVAH LAZAROFF NOVEMBER 23, 2018 00:15 Four attorneys filed a class action suit against Airbnb in Jerusalem District Court on Thursday to protest the US-based company’s decision to drop listings in West Bank settlements from its vacation rental website that hosts ads from 191 countries. “The law in Israel forbids discrimination based on the place where you live, and what Airbnb has done is by all means discrimination based on the place where you live,” said attorney Aviel Flint, a partner in the law firm Yossi Levy & Co. This is a case of Israeli law and not antisemitism or politics, Flint told The Jerusalem Post. The case is based on a 2000 law against discrimination in products and services, which was amended in 2017 to include place of residence. The suit also names the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, which along with Human Rights Watch, published an in-depth report on Airbnb and a similar website called Booking.com. It called on both companies to remove the listings. The NGOs argued that Israel’s presence in the West Bank was illegal under international law and that in some cases, the rooms were on land that belonged to private Palestinian landowners. The suit was filed on behalf of Ma’anit Rabinovich, a resident of the Kida outpost, who has rented guests rooms through Airbnb and heard of the issue through the media without any notification from the company. “From Airbnb’s point of view, it was a lot more important ‘to run’ quickly to the media and tell them about its decision, instead of first of all informing all those people that were about to be hurt or even to warn them about their intention to do it,” the court petition stated. Flint said he expects that the 200 people in Judea and Samaria who use Airbnb will join the suit. The court petition stated that the discrimination in this case was “particularly grave and outrageous” because Airbnb has pulled listings from only one disputed territory, the West Bank, while continuing to list rentals in other places of contention such as Tibet and northern Cyprus. The dispute between Russia and Georgia involved military invasions, and despite that, Airbnb still offered 300 apartments there for rent, the petition stated. The petition quoted explanations from Airbnb that it respects local laws and customs. “Airbnb recognizes that some jurisdictions permit, or require, distinctions among individuals based on factors such as national origin, gender, marital status or sexual orientation, and it does not require hosts to violate local laws or take actions that may subject them to legal liability,” the company has stated. “Airbnb will provide additional guidance and adjust this nondiscrimination policy to reflect such permissions and requirements in the jurisdictions where they exist,” the company further explained. One would conclude, the petition stated, that “Airbnb has no policies regarding regions of conflict in the world. It has policies regarding settlements.” The other attorneys in the case are Asaf Shubinsky, Chen Shomart and Hagai Vinitzky.
(4) Airbnb sued for pulling West Bank settlements https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46316235 23 November 2018 Holiday homes rental giant Airbnb is being sued in a class action by a law firm in Jerusalem over its delisting of settlements in the occupied West Bank. It accuses Airbnb of "grave and outrageous" discrimination for not applying the same standard in occupied areas in other parts of the world. On Monday, Airbnb said it took the move because it viewed settlements as "core" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The step was hailed by Palestinians and denounced by Israel. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Maanit Rabinovich from the settlement of Kida, and, according to court papers, will seek compensation for other similarly affected holiday home-letters. It accuses Airbnb of discriminating against Israelis because it continues to list holiday homes in places considered occupied in other geopolitical hotspots, such as Tibet and Northern Cyprus. Airbnb says it is "evaluating" what to do about lettings in occupied territories in general. Israel's tourism minister has denounced the firm's action against Jewish settlements as "shameful", and said Israeli authorities would back legal challenges against it. The move, which affects 200 listings, has been widely praised by Palestinians and their supporters. Jewish settlements in territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. The issue of settlements is one of the most contentious areas of dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. Can settlement issue be solved? More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians see them as a major obstacle to peace and a barrier to a hoped-for Palestinian state on land which they occupy.
Israel says such an argument is a pretext for avoiding direct peace talks, and that the fate of settlements should be negotiated in accordance with peace accords signed with the Palestinians in 1993.
(5) Simon Wiesenthal Center urges Jewish communities to boycott Airbnb for delisting Settlements https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46273938 Airbnb: Israeli uproar as firm bars West Bank settlements 20 November 2018 Israel has denounced as "shameful" Airbnb's decision to withdraw its listings from homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Its tourism minister said Israeli authorities would back legal challenges lodged by settlers against the US firm. Airbnb said it had made the decision because settlements were "at the core" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The move, which affects 200 listings, has been widely praised by Palestinians and their supporters. Jewish settlements in territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Human Rights Watch called Airbnb's decision "a positive step" and urged other tourism companies, such as Booking.com, to follow suit. In a report released on Tuesday, the New York-based group said "Israelis and foreigners may rent properties in settlements, but Palestinian ID holders are effectively barred". It said this was the only example the rights body could find "in which Airbnb hosts have no choice but to discriminate against guests based on national or ethnic origin". Airbnb has come under fire in the past by Palestinian officials and human rights campaigners for allowing listings of homes to rent in Israeli settlements. However, Israeli leaders and organisations have widely condemned the latest move. The Yesha Council, which represents Israeli settlers, accused Airbnb of becoming "a political site" and said the decision was "the result of either anti-Semitism or capitulation to terrorism, or both". And the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a US-based Jewish human rights organisation, urged Jewish communities around the world to boycott Airbnb in the wake of its decision. Gidi Kelman, who owns an Airbnb-listed property in the occupied West Bank, told the BBC it was a hypocritical decision. "I didn't see any action against Turkey when they were bombing the Kurds," he said, arguing that "lots of countries" have conflicts. "I don't think an international company should be dealing with politics," he said. The issue of settlements is one of the most contentious areas of dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians see them as a major obstacle to peace and a barrier to a hoped-for Palestinian state on land which they occupy. Israel says such an argument is a pretext for avoiding direct peace talks, and that the fate of settlements should be negotiated in accordance with peace accords signed with the Palestinians in 1993.
(6) Tourism Minister willing to sacrifice Israel's tourism industry for settlements & fight against BDS Airbnb battle threatens Israeli tourism industry Shlomi Eldar November 21, 2018 Tourism Minister Yariv Levin is willing to sacrifice Israel's tourism industry for the sake of his pro-settlement ideology and the fight against the boycott movement. The global property rental giant Airbnb announced Nov. 19 it was removing some 200 listings in Israeli settlements located in 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,” according to the company’s press release headlined “Listings in Disputed Territories.” The company went on to describe the process that led to its decision, including discussion of “whether companies should not profit on lands where people have been displaced.” It concluded by expressing hope “that someday sooner rather than late … there will be a resolution to this historic conflict.” Airbnb had been mulling the issue for some time. PLO Executive Council head Saeb Erekat demanded in 2016 that the company remove from its listings houses in West Bank settlements, arguing that they had been built illegally on Palestinian lands in violation of international law. This week, he welcomed Airbnb’s decision as “an initial positive step.” Israeli peace organizations were also pleased. The anti-settlement Peace Now movement said that even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett cannot see the Green Line — Israel’s internationally recognized eastern borderline — “the rest of the world distinguishes between sovereign Israel and the occupied territories.” The Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, had an interesting reaction. It simply accused the Airbnb management of “anti-Semitism or capitulation to terrorism, or both.” The settlement leaders added, “A company that has no trouble renting apartments in dictatorships around the world and in places where there is no semblance of human rights picks on the State of Israel.” Airbnb’s decision touched the most sensitive points of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The reactions by the settlers, the peace organizations and certainly the Palestinians were therefore expected. So was the Nov. 21 statement by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked that she was considering legal steps against the company for its "discriminatory" policy. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin took a different tack. He condemned the “shameful” decision by Airbnb, but also said he had instructed his office to take immediate steps to curb its operations throughout Israel. Levin also instructed the ministry to formulate a plan promoting tourism and vacation rentals in the West Bank. Levin’s announcement is strange for two reasons. First, does Levin’s office really intend to market the settlements of Efrat, Tekoa, Sussiya and Beit El around the world and encourage tourists to go visit settlements located far from Israeli urban centers in regions at high risk of violence? Promoting tourism to the West Bank does not require a special campaign, especially not one at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer. The government and its affiliated bodies funnel huge amounts of money via every possible channel to the local councils there and to the various settler organizations. They can market the settlements themselves to a dedicated target audience, generally visitors who go there to make a supportive political statement rather than to vacation. Second, Levin’s decision will harm foreign tourism to Israel just so he can defend the settlement enterprise if he fraudulently presents a visit to Tekoa, Beit El or Amona as no different from a vacation in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Haifa. Is his office not in charge of increasing the number of tourists to Israel? The Tourism Ministry conducts regular campaigns around the world at a cost of millions of dollars to encourage visits to the Holy Land. It offers tours of historic sites and to places holy to the three Abrahamic religions, along with medical and spa tourism to the Dead Sea, unending sunshine in the Red Sea port of Eilat and the exciting night life in Tel Aviv, emphasizing the city’s openness to the LGBT community. Government figures show that tourism to Israel hit a record high of over 3.5 million last year. The ministry says every 100,000 tourists contribute 600 million shekels ($162 million) to the Israeli economy and add 4,000 direct new jobs. At the same time, the head of the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association, Yossi Fatal, is warning that the greater the number of tourists, the greater the dissatisfaction with their experience due to a severe shortage of tourist accommodations, among other reasons. Fatal warned Nov. 6 against a “crisis of confidence by global tourism markets in the Israeli tourism product.” Nonetheless, the tourism minister thinks it makes sense to clash with the world’s biggest vacation rental agency and try to force it to toe the right-wing government policy on the disputed settlements. Airbnb is very active in Israel. In November 2017, the municipality published a poll among tourists to the city indicating that Tel Aviv had set a world record in the number of tourists renting Airbnb accommodations. According to the poll, 51% of visitors to the city rented on Airbnb compared with only 30% who opted for a hotel (9,700 Airbnb vacation rentals are available in Tel Aviv, compared to 8,000 hotel rooms). The reason is obvious: Hotel prices in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv, are high to prohibitive. Were it not for the Airbnb options, tourist numbers would certainly have declined and the ministry would have been unable to boast of record-high tourism. Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan is willing to sacrifice Israeli tourism in the name of defending the settlements. He formed a special unit to deal with the anti-settlement boycott movement, and it backfired. Erdan essentially set up a thought police that bars anyone suspected of supporting the boycott in the past or present from entering Israel. In doing so, he turned the movement into a greater threat than it was. Levin is also willing to sacrifice Israeli tourism to stand alongside Erdan and shout for the world to know that a visit to the settlements is the same as anywhere else in Israel.
(7) Germany votes for anti-Israel 'Decolonization' resolutions at UN General Assembly https://www.jpost.com/International/German-MPs-slam-FM-Maas-for-abandoning-Israel-at-UN-572646 German MPs Slam Fm Maas For Abandoning Israel At U.N. "I can't understand why Germany on an international stage abandoned Israel,"said Bijan Djir-Sarai, the foreign policy spokesman and a MP for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) faction in the Bundestag. BY BENJAMIN WEINTHAL NOVEMBER 23, 2018 12:39 German politicians took their country's foreign minister, Heiko Maas, to task on Wednesday in the Bundestag for supporting eight anti-Israel resolutions during a UN General Assembly vote dealing with the Israel-Arab conflict. "I can't understand why Germany on an international stage abandoned Israel,"said Bijan Djir-Sarai, the foreign policy spokesman and a MP for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) faction in the Bundestag. Sarai asked Maas to explain why Germany voted eight times for "one-sided criticisms" against Israel at the UN. He wrote on Twitter that "Israel friends rightly expect more from us here. Europe must not let Israel down at the UN." He stressed that Europe has a "responsibility" toward the Jewish state. The UN General Assembly’s “Special Political and Decolonization Committee” passed nine resolutions against the policies of the Jewish state. Germany voted with Syria, Cuba, Saudia Arabia and Iran , among some of the countries, to condemn Israel. Germany withheld its vote on one resolution for a special commitee to investigate Israel's practices. The anti-Israel resolutions included charging Israel with violating the human rights of the Palestinians and called for Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria. The Vice Chairman of the FDP in in the Bundestag Alexander Lambsdorff tweeted last week: "The UN is totally biased against Israel." Germany's social democratic foreign minister Heiko Maas, who said he went into politics"because of Auschwitz," defended the foreign ministry's decision to vote for the anti-Israel resolutions. Maas said that "Instead of getting out of the debate at an early stage and getting resolution texts that are much sharper against Israel, we want to influence the debates and make sure the texts are not so sharp that they have things that standing there and we can not support, also not adopt." Maas has refused to join US sanctions against Iran's regime. President Reuvin Rivlin urged Chancelloe Angela Merkel in October to support the US sanctions targeting Iran to stop its nuclear program and terrorism. Merkel rebuffed Rivlin. Maas sought in August to create a mechansim to bypass US sanctions on SWIFT--the international financial messaging system that allows countries to make cross-country payments. The US classifies Iran as the top state-sponsor of terrorism. Frank Müller-Rosentritt, MdB? , a MP from the FDP in the Bundestag, also slammed Maas on Twitter: "Arguments of the Minister do not convince me. Ger.-Israeli. Friendship is different! For the @fdpbt the last word in this debate is not yet spoken." Germany's ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen is despised by many Israeli diplomats for his anti-Israel activities over the years, according to Jerusalem Post interviews with diplomats over the last eight years. A Wikileaks cabel revealed in 2010 that Heusgen , who was Merkel's foreign policy advisor at the time, urged the U.S. to water down its opposition to the U.N.’s anti-Israel “Goldstone Report” in order to force Israel to freeze settlement construction. In a November 2009 cable: “[National Security Adviser Christoph] Heusgen said that Germany ‘perceives this differently’ and thought Netanyahu needed ‘to do more’ in order to bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table. With Palestinians in East Jerusalem getting notices from Israeli authorities that their houses will be destroyed, it would be ‘suicide’ for President Abbas to move under the current circumstances. “Heusgen said he could not fathom why Netanyahu did not understand this. He suggested pressuring Netanyahu by linking favorable UNSC [Security Council] treatment of the Goldstone Report to Israel committing to a complete stop in settlement activity.” Heusgen faced criticism for nepotism when he attained the UN post because he allegedly improperly secured a position for his wife at the UN. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer tweeted after the UN vote: "YESTERDAY: Sweden & 27 other EU states back UN resolution to #EndBullying. TODAY: Sweden & 27 other EU states to join the jackals in voting for 9 resolutions singling out Israel alone for condemnation." The US mission to the UN,which sided with Israel on all nine resolutions, said "The US will no longer abstain when the UN engages in its useless annual vote on the Golan Heights. The resolution is plainly biased against Israel; on Friday, we will vote no." The anti-Israel activity of the German government sparked criticism on Twitter with commentators asking how Germany squares its statement that Israel's is part of the Federal Republic's raison d'être with the votes against the Jewish state. The US voted for the first time against an annual resolution condemning Israel's “occupation” of the Golan Heights. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and one of Israel's strongest supporters in Congress, said on his Twitter feed: "I commend the Trump administration & Ambassador @nikkihaley for standing up to UN bias against Israel. It's past time to acknowledge the reality of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which should never come under the control of the Iran-backed Assad regime." -- Peter Myerswebsite: http://mailstar.net/index.html |
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