Now also complaints: Airbnb gets in Israel a lot of headwind, because the online housing broker has taken offers from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank from its website.
Lawyers filed a class action for discrimination at the Jerusalem District Court. "The decision of the company is directed exclusively against Israelis who live in the settlements," it said in a lawyer's letter justification.
His client Maanit Rabinovich, who rents rooms in the Kida settlement in the Palestinian Territory, claims about $ 2,500 in damages. The total sum of the claims of other landlords did not emerge from the papers submitted to the court. An Airbnb spokesman did not want to comment on the process.
The company decided on Monday to cancel some 200 rooms and apartments for rent in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Previously, there had been criticism that Airbnb doing business in the occupied territories.
Praise of Human Rights, threats from Israel
Many countries consider Jewish settlements in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 to be illegal. They are a particularly contentious part of the peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, which have been frozen since 2014. An Israeli minister had therefore called for a boycott of Airbnb.
"We call on all supporters of Israel worldwide to stop working with Airbnb," said Gilad Erdan, Minister of Strategic Affairs. "There are enough competitors, we do not need them." Israel also announced legal action against Airbnb's decision and threatened the company with high taxes.
Representatives of the Palestinians, on the other hand, had welcomed the decision. Human Rights Watch has also been calling on Airbnb for years to forgo housing in the settlements. Accordingly, the human rights organization praised the decision of the bed broker - and criticized the Israeli sanctions against Airbnb. These could drive up the overnight costs of thousands of tourists, such as the Tel Aviv Eurovision Song Contest next year, said Omar Shakir, head of Human Rights Watch's regional office in Israel.
Nearly 600,000 Israelis live in more than 200 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In 2016, the UN Security Council demanded a complete settlement stop by Israel. Settlements were described as a violation of international law and a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East.