Airbnb singled out Israel

I am dismayed by the arguments of

Alan Levine and Donna Nevel in favor of Airbnb’s decision to no longer carry listings for properties in Israeli settlements in the West Bank area. Airbnb has listed properties in other controversial areas, but chose to single out Israeli properties in the West Bank.

Their arguments are leaden with the same type of propaganda coming out of nations and groups long opposed to the existence of the state of Israel.

Using the terms occupied territories, expropriated land, and Israeli oppression make for the typical stale arguments. Territories are occupied because nations have chosen to go to war to crush the state of Israel, and lost. There is a military presence because people living in these areas have chosen terrorist activities instead of pursuing peace and making attempts at nation-building.

The Israeli government and military are not perfect, and there is a means to petition their decisions. Israel is a democracy. The same cannot be said of their neighbors or the groups that govern the West Bank.

Siding with the Palestinian Authority and like-minded groups is hardly progressive. Suicide bombings, second-class treatment of women and gays, and no legal recourse for injustice are far from progressive.

Anti-semitism is neither left-wing or right-wing. People with an agenda against the Jewish people come from all ideological bases.

The Florida Legislature voted overwhelmingly to go after the BDS (Boycotts, Disinvestment and Sanctions) movement because it cloaks its anti-semitism by attacking the state of Israel.

State Rep. Richard Stark, D-Weston