Airbnb – a case of overreaction

The angry, somewhat hysterical reaction of Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria, and some of our government ministers, to the decision of Airbnb to remove from its website apartments that they offer for short-term rental in their settlements, is understandable.

The Jewish settlers believe that they have a perfect right to live where they live, either because God gave these territories to the Jews, or because they believe that international law condones Israel’s settlement activities in them, and that the territories where they have built their homes are part of the sovereign territory of the State of Israel – or at least ought to be – and that therefore any boycott of them is a boycott of the whole State of Israel.

I happen to belong to those who believe that while Israel’s occupation of Judea and Samaria has been a fact since 1967, the status of these lands has not been settled under international law, and that under the circumstances the Geneva Conventions, which limit what Israel may do unilaterally to change their status, apply to them. I also believe that God is not a real estate agent who distributes land to a people and dispossesses another of it, and that ownership of land is settled by legal means, which use of force cannot alter, unless the international community decides that it accepts the results of this use of force.

No one in the world – except perhaps the Evangelists – recognizes the West Bank as an integral part of the State of Israel, or is willing to view the Old Testament as a title deed for the Land of Israel. If one watches the broadcasts of TV Channel 20 – the rightwing public TV channel – then one learns that most of this channel’s commentators and audience accuse “the most right-wing, religious government Israel has ever had” of failing to treat Judea and Samaria, and their Jewish inhabitants, as fully integrated territories and equal citizens of the sovereign State of Israel. So the anger of the settlers is not just toward those who choose to boycott them, but also toward the Israeli government, which has so far failed to go the whole way towards integrating them.

I myself do not boycott Judea and Samaria, have several dear friends who live there whom I occasionally visit, do not refuse to purchase products manufactured in them and do not call upon others to practice such boycotts, though I consider such boycotts to be perfectly legitimate. I also believe that those who incite to such boycotts, or practice them must take into consideration that Israeli law includes certain provisions that enable those suffering from the consequences of such boycotts to sue those practicing them, and that they might have to pay a price for their activities – just like the settlers must accept the consequences of their choice to live on controversial land.

It will be interesting to see how the Israeli courts react to lawsuits brought against Airbnb in Israel, and even more interesting to see what American courts will have to say about lawsuits that will apparently be brought in the United States, on the basis of American law (Airbnb headquarters are in San Francisco).

Personally, I believe that the whole issue is a storm in a tea cup, and that just like the badgering of persons who are known to be critical of Israel or who happen to be carrying written material that mentions the name “Palestine” at Israel’s border crossings, will merely aggravate Israel’s image abroad, and will fail to convert a single soul to the Israeli government’s positions on the issue.

At the same time, I find the reaction of the head of the Beth El local council, Shai Alon, to the Airbnb announcement especially outrageous and misleading. Alon said that “Once against a selection of Jews is taking place.” No, the basis for the “selection” is not that they are Jews, but that they are Israelis who have chosen to settle on lands that allegedly do not belong to them.

We are talking of 200 apartments in territories that are generally not recognized as being within the sovereign territory of Israel. Tens of thousands apartments owned by Jews (and non-Jews) inside the sovereign State of Israel are not affected by the Aibnb decision. Calling what happened a “selection” – with Holocaust implications – suggesting that Airbnb’s decision is based on antisemitism, is simply offensive.

Though I am sure that none of the ads about apartments in the settlements that appeared on the Airbnb website stated that Palestinian guests are not welcome. I am equally certain that if a Palestinian were to try to rent – he would be turned down automatically, even though the land on which the apartment for rent is built might well have belonged to his grandfather. Talking of “selection”...

Equally outrageous and misleading is the claim of a class action submitted to the District Court in Jerusalem, in the name of Maanit Rabinovich from Keida in Samaria, which argues that there are dozens of conflict zones around the world in which the question emerges who may rule in them, but Airbnb decided to take action only in our case – not in Tibet, not in Turkish Cyprus, not in Abkhazia, not in Nagorno-Karabak. Is that who we want to be compared with? Isn’t it telling that there isn’t a single Western democracy in this list?

But if the international buddies of our prime minister are Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and President-Elect Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil – then there is apparently nothing wrong with demanding to be treated like the illegally occupied and ruled territories mentioned in the class action?

But to return to the question whether it is worth making such a fuss because of 200 apartments in Judea and Samaria, which are unlikely to attract guests who are not already supporters of Jewish settlement in the West Bank (Jewish and Evangelist), or persons with malicious intentions, and who do not need Airbnb to find them.

Besides the fact is that Israel is unlikely to gain anything internationally from all the rumpus, the only ones likely to lose financially, should Airbnb decide to retaliate, or should our Minister of Tourism, Yariv Levin realize his threat to curtail the activity of the global company in Israel, are the tens of thousands of Israelis (Jews and Arabs) who live within the Green Line and advertise their apartments on the Airbnb website – not the few hundred settlers living outside the Green Line, who can advertise their apartments elsewhere (Levin has already offered an alternative venue).

I can think of only one positive result should Airbnb’s activity in Israel be curtailed, and that is that some of the eight to nine thousand apartments in the Tel Aviv area that are currently rented out short term by means of Airbnb, will return to be inhabited by Israelis, who are unable today to purchase or rent accommodation in Tel Aviv at affordable prices.