Airbnb...is this article true???? Please assure me this is a misunderstanding...

Karin36
Level 6
Richmond, Canada

Airbnb...is this article true???? Please assure me this is a misunderstanding...

AirBNB Goes Anti-Semitic

 

On Monday, AirBNB, the home-rental company that is often used by tourists to rent apartments in locations around the globe, announced that it would not allow Jewish settlements to be listed in Judea and Samaria. AirBNB stated:

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.

This is the sheerest form of corporate anti-Semitism in recent memory. Not only did AirBNB specifically target “Israeli settlements,” according to Professor Eugene Kontorovich of George Mason Law, they’ve announced that they will only disallow listings in Israeli settlements when those listings are owned by Jews. In other words, if a Jew owns an apartment in East Jerusalem, that won’t be allowed for listing; if an Arab owns an apartment in the same neighborhood, it’s fine for listing.

This is absurd. As Dr. Michael Oren points out, AirBNB lists apartments in Turkish-occupied Cyprus, the Moroccan-occupied Sahara, Chinese-occupied Tibet and Russian-occupied Crimea. Not only that, but AirBNB allows listings in a wide variety of countries without any democratic rights and with wildly discriminatory policies.

Judea and Samaria are disputed territories, not “occupied” territories. Israel controls those territories thanks to repeated refusal by Arab states that repeatedly declared war on Israel to accept any peace deal. Radical Muslim anti-Semites and their left-wing apologists insist not only that these territories be turned over to the terrorist Palestinian Authority for control, but that Jews evacuate those territories entirely, making them Judenrein. Remember, this AirBNB policy isn’t targeting the Israeli government — it’s targeting Jews themselves for living in areas under international dispute.

Leaders of the BDS movement are explicitly anti-Semitic, calling openly for the end of Israel’s existence. The very notion of labeling Jewish products from particular areas for boycott is reminiscent of Nazi policy directed against Jews. As Alan Dershowitz writes:

The boycott against Israel and its Jewish supporters (to many Palestinians, all of Israel is one big "settlement"; just look at any map of Palestine) began before any "occupation" or "settlements" and picked up steam just as Israel offered to end the "occupation" and settlements as part of a two-state solution that the Palestinians rejected. BDS is not a protest against Israel's policies. It is a protest against Israel's very existence.

Still, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) is gaining serious steam on the mainstream Left these days thanks to the intersectional notion that Jews rank high on the hierarchy of privilege. Such thinking allows anti-Semitism to thrive across the world, and particularly in the Middle East. AirBNB’s latest move is simply the best evidence yet that the intersectional Leftist ideology has invaded the corporate world, and that anti-Semitism is perfectly acceptable among otherwise “woke” actors on the Left.

 

This article can be found on The Daily Wire...somehow I can't embed the link...

143 Replies 143

Margaret, I do not wish to be flippant towards you or anyone. But you really have shot yourself in the foot with that link.


The BDS backers it lists is impressive. This is not a rabble and motley crew of degenerates, but respected and long established organisations with proven track records in fairness on sensitive issues. What is striking is many of them are Israeli based and/or Jewish led or with Jewish involvement.


Just a sample of the Jewish and/or Israeli based organisations that support the BDS movement against the Israeli occupation:


Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) 


Who Profits - http://www.whoprofits.org/


Rockefeller Brothers Fund - https://www.rbf.org/about


Rosa Luxemburg Foundation - 


And please, let us not hear how Jews who support Palestinian rights and Jews who are anti-Zionist are nothing but self-hating Jews. This vicious defamation against conscientious individuals, together with the anti-Semitic smear, are the only things left in the armoury of those who wish to deny Palestinians their rights. They are used almost exclusively in an attempt to steer debates away from the facts, and place the other party on the defensive. It is not working any more.

Tracy0
Level 10
London, GB

This is an amazing thread, not because of it's content, but somehow magically a huge raft of new people suddenly emerge immediately to support a post which is plainly political (agree or not, it's political).  If I were a Trumpie I'd say they were paid protesters....or 'bussed in' to hold signs or something.

 

Again - I have no comment on the content - just this is one of the few/mabye first of this kind of thread.



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Contact AirBNB

It may appear that way, but the issue will attract interest by itself. What's important is truth, irrespective of who writes it. What are the arguments? Which ones appeal to truth and reason, and which ones are bluster and smoke? 

@Nigel86, I don't think you or others defending this decision posting here are interested in the truth. Several individuals have parroted the leftist talking point that Israel is engaging in genocide, which is the farthest from the truth and which is not based on any fact or truth. 

 

A narrative is just that, a story that individuals with an agenda attempt to put forth and support no matter what the facts are. 

Jonathan6
Level 10
Mamaroneck, NY

There is one simple truth in the Israel/Arab (there is no such thing as a Palestinian) dispute, if tomorrow the Arabs in the territories were to lay down their weapons there would be peace and a two state solution.  If the Israeli's were to lay down their weapons there would be no more Israel.

 

Land's annexed by Israel have only been in response to aggression, this is true of every war and the intifada.  As someone has stated here, what would the United States do if Mexican's were lobbing hundreds of missiles a day and fire bomb balloons across the boarder?  We would not just fire back but wipe them off the earth.  

 

The Arabs of the occupied territories are the aggressors in this struggle, it's just that the Israeli's have more might.

 

That AirBnB is getting involved in a political situation should not be tolerated.  It also reeks of hypocrisy since AirBnB has listings in 4 of the top six most oppressive/brutal countries in the world, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Equatorial Guinea and Uzbekistan.  The only two they do not have listing in are North Korea (no one is allowed to host) and Syria.

 

These countries practice genocide, but still AirBnB allows these listings.

 

Why is AirBnB not taking a position on the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi's?  Are they going to be the monitor of right and wrong for the world?  It's seems that genocide and brutal killings of members of the press don't rise to the level of a response, nor does it seem that AirBnB wants to publicize to it's members that it has now become the moral compass, but enacted a policy behind closed doors.

 

If there is not some other agenda here, then AirBnB needs to explain their policy otherwise this does appear on the surface to be simply Anti-Semitic.

 

AirBnB needs to remain a platform, not a political organization and let the market decide, otherwise they need to give me the same rights to discriminate against people coming from countries that I feel politically or morally I don't want to host.

 

If AirBnB refuses to stay geographically and politically agnostic, I for one would consider participating in a calendar shut-down in protest of this biased and hypocritical policy.

 

Edward19
Level 3
Devon, PA

Airbnb’s act of corporate anti-Semitism

By David Harsanyi

November 20, 2018 | 8:00pm

 

Airbnb says: No Jews allowed. The apartment-sharing service has sided against Israel by banning and delisting the apartments of peaceful Jewish civilians living in Judea and Samaria. And that’s not even the worst part.

Nor is the worst part that Airbnb is helping propel the destructive myth that Jews would abandon their claim to the disputed West Bank if only there were enough international pressure.

No, the worst part is that Airbnb has singled out Jews, and only Jews, as the one group in the world that is worthy of such censure. That’s what makes its boycott a naked act of corporate anti-Semitism.

Airbnb says an entire team “struggled to come up with the right approach.” And the right approach evidently was to bar Jews from listing the apartments and homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Airbnb is only targeting Jews — not the present government of Israel or the “Zionists” or any political entity — who live on disputed land.

“Many in the global community have stated that companies should not do business here because they believe companies should not profit on lands where people have been displaced,” reads an Airbnb blog post that sounds like it was written by some poli-sci freshman who just wrapped up his first Chomsky tome.

The “global community” is a euphemism for a conglomerate of theocrats and authoritarians, who use the Middle East’s sole democratic state as a distraction to deflect from their own transgressions. It also includes various Western Israel obsessives with misleading names like Human Rights Watch.

Bravo, Airbnb! You have now adopted the immoral hypocrisy of that community.

Because, don’t worry, you can still snag a “modern apartment studio” in the city-center of Sevastopol, Ukraine, annexed by Russia. And Airbnb will hook you up with a “Cozy Studio” near Gulshan-Baridhara in “Tibet, China” — formerly known simply as Tibet. Hey, the Turkish have been depopulating Kurdish towns for decades, but Airbnb is there for you.

If you want a place on the Gaza Strip, where the state fires hundreds of rockets at Jewish civilians to cheers of the populace, no problem. I mean, Hamas’ charter might say that there’s “no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad,” but for 55 dollars a night, Airbnb has a solution for the discerning traveler.

The company claims that its decision was evaluated on “whether the existence of listings is contributing to existing human suffering.” Yet in countries with stateless minorities and oppressive regimes, a two-bedroom within walking distance of your favorite tourist attraction is almost surely available.

The notion that a glorified rental board believes it can ease human suffering is amusing. Jews will figure out a way to rent their homes. But the ideas Airbnb is helping normalize — namely, those of the anti-Jewish boycott, divest and sanction movement — are serious. Airbnb wants a Judenfrei West Bank. In no other region in the world, and with no other conflict and no other ethnicity, race or faith, would Americans openly accept this kind of prejudice.

It’s a mystery if the crack Airbnb team knows that Jews were forced out of the West Bank when seven Arab armies (and other paramilitary groups) attacked in 1948. It seems unlikely that the firm is aware that hundreds of thousands of Jews were displaced from Muslim nations in the years that followed Israel’s creation. Many of those nations continue to oppress and displace indigenous Christians, and Airbnb continues to do business with them.

Jews would retake the West Bank in 1967, after a number of Arab armies gave it another shot. Since that day, Israel has countless times offered autonomy and nationhood to the people living in vast swaths of that land in exchange for peace. The only reason Jews live in self-contained communities in the West Bank is because Palestinian authorities do nothing to stop the violence aimed at civilians. Actually, Palestinian authorities often spur the violence, not only threatening anyone who sells real estate to Jews but rewarding the families of their murderers with cash.

Now, unless you’re a Canaanite, your claim to live in the West Bank is a complex one. It’s unlikely the team at Airbnb is going to unfurl the problem in any coherent way. So it’s probably best to stay out of it. Because you might end up looking like world-class hypocrites. Or worse, a bunch of anti-Semites.

 

One point to note as a fact check

 

Russian occupied Crimea is on the list of airbnb prohibited places.

 

There are no listings such as'' ''modern apartment studio” in the city-center of Sevastopol. '' as quoted above.

 

 

 

 

Why can't I use Airbnb from my location?

Airbnb is required to comply with international regulations that restrict the use of our site by residents of certain countries. Because of this, our services are not available in Crimea, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

 

"Airbnb says: No Jews allowed."

 

Where does it say that Edward? Please post the link.

And where are "Judea and Samaria"?

@Edward0 - I can't seem to tag you - this sort of thinking has been going on for a long time among the intellectually lazy. These people think they're being real 'thinkers' by parroting what is trendy, yet in reality, they have no idea about the reality of the situation and simply believe what they're told to think. 

 

We stand with you! 

John, after reading your comments I get the strong impression you're parroting Fox News. 

@Edward0,

New York Post is a right bias that has a poor history of reporting facts: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/

Judea and Samaria is considered, roughly, Northern Israel and the West Bank.  The only listings taken down were those in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but not anywhere in Israel.  And there are non-Jews living in those Israeli settlements.  Just because it's primarily a Jewish settlement, doesn't mean EVERYONE in the settlement is Jewish.

Edward19
Level 3
Devon, PA

Anyone who supports Airbnb's stance is a blatent anti-Semite. You're all wrapped up in your holier-than-thou stance. Judea and Samaria are NOT occupied territories. Read your history, and I don't mean from 1967. Go back to 1948 and before! If you had any intelligence at all you would, as I am, vehemently protesting Airbnb's position. 

 

This is strictly a political stance, and politics has no place here. Airbnb has singled out Jewish—and only Jewish—hosts when there are true occupiers in other places in the world: Tibet comes immediately to mind. Where's Airbnb's delisting of THEIR homes? No where! See the article I posted elsewhere by David Harsanyi.

 

Hopefully, enough pressure will be brought onto Airbnb to embarass them enough to rescind this dispicable, heinous, anti-Semitic—that's actually anti-Jewish—policy.

Here's what Jonathan Schanzer says of the accusation of anti-Semitism:


"Personally I think that anti-Semitism, as a smear, is not what it used to be."


Schanzer is senior vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an Israel lobby group. He is active in targeting and smearing BDS campaigners as anti-Semites. His admission strikingly highlights the weaponisation of the anti-Semitic smear.


This documentary of an undercover British Jewish journalist shows Schanzer speaking that quote. It's at about 40 minutes into the documentary. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6wivtg

 

Schanzer is at the forefront of smearing peaceful campaigners for justice in Palestine, and is typical of the whole Israel lobby directed against it.

Andras7
Level 3
Athens, Greece

@Karin36 and an other tread by "peace loving" people who do not even bother to listen to israels prime ministers speaches .. and repeat the same nonsense over and oever again , even the PM does not dispute the fact that most of those are accupied territories . Bibi actually does not BS , he is straith up about NOT wanting to give back the occupied territories , simply because much of the water reserves are on that side, and he just does not trust the arabs with that important resource ... also you not "indigenous" if you moved back after 100s  if not 1000s of years , the actual indigenous jews are in fact in peace with the arabs .. having a ganetic test to validate your racial purity to get advantages in a teritory controled by other people like that does not make you jewish, it makes you a racist . try the same BS in britain , hey im white , my name is smith, can i have citisenship ? noooo 🙂  think about that for a moment

My letter to airbnb reads as follows:- You may not have registered the cancellation of my account yet, although it should have been immediate. I agreed to use your business because it promoted connectivity and was apolitical. However, you have become a political part of the Palestinian BDS movement and I will not deal with any company that singles out Jews and Israeli's as their target for punishment.
That you choose to use a tax free location to operate your business indicates a savvy mindset, so no excuses for knowing exactly what you are doing. I've spoken to my airbnb-using friends about my decision not to use airbnb, being my protest against muck stirring, they have said they will do the same and let their friends know. Small world, the internet.
I'll remind you of the Sodastream fiasco. The Palestinian BDS drove that company to move their factory, sack all their Palestinian employees and re-locate in Israel, where the company was sold for a record high price. Who suffered? The Palestinians are now un-employed and blaming the Israeli's for breaching their trust. Brilliance like this radiates its own illumination but alas, some are so blind that they are unable to see the light for the glare.
Well done airbnb and your Palestinian BDS partners for your success in depriving good people of their incomes, the building of barriers to communication and the separating of people from each other - The exact opposite to your corporate philosophy.
Get me off your email list as soon as your computer can catch up with your bigotry.