Times of Israel and Agence France Presse report, “Amnesty International on Tuesday urged a boycott of tourism in Israel’s West Bank settlements and singled out digital tourism giants Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor, saying they were profiting from “war crimes” by offering services there. The British-based NGO’s “Destination: Occupation” study called on the companies to stop listing tourist accommodation, activities and attractions in settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.”
““They are doing so despite knowing that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is governed by international humanitarian law under which Israeli settlements are deemed illegal,” said the report. “In doing business with settlements, all four companies are contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law.”…The rights group accused the firms of “normalizing” settlements.”…
“Amnesty said that TripAdvisor “is the main focus of this campaign because of the company’s relative importance to the tourism industry in Israeli settlements.”…
“Israeli officials were quick to condemn the Amnesty report. “Amnesty has become a leader in the anti-Semitic BDS campaign, and tonight’s report on Israel is an outrageous attempt to distort the facts, deny Jewish heritage and delegitimize Israel,” Strategic Affairs and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in a tweet.” (more…)