Airbnb joins the lineup of classic anti-Semites

It’s unprecedented. Airbnb, the website that rents rooms and houses to tourists throughout the world, has decided to act as the world’s moral compass by removing all listings of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria. Set for removal are approximately 200 apartments belonging to Israeli citizens in the disputed territories.

Their decision is particularly disheartening in light of the fact that Airbnb has not removed a single property owned by Turks in Cyprus, Moroccans in Sahara, Chinese in Tibet or Russians in the Crimea — in other words, the occupiers in other disputed territories around the world.

When it comes to double standards, Israel is the ideal target.

The European Union and the United Nations ride on their moral high horses by passing resolutions that exclusively target the Jewish state while ignoring the world’s foremost human rights abusers, murderers and dictators.

 Following the great anti-Semitic masters, Airbnb posted an elaborate statement explaining its decision to single out Jews. It alludes to security, justice, peace, and suffering, wholeheartedly adhering to the Palestinian narrative, although the international legal definition refers to Judea and Samaria, not “disputed territories.”

Airbnb has chosen to join the self-described defenders of globalization and human rights, and become the latest company to join the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This anti-Semitic movement calls for the total boycott of Israel, a discriminatory act that has already been prohibited by 26 of America’s 50 states.

It is part of a gross pattern in which Israel, which represents the collective Jew, is repeatedly condemned by all the anti-Semites of the world.

Airbnb doesn’t like the rooms, apartments and homes of Jews. It is not a matter of chance that it announced its new policy the day before the NGO Human Rights Watch — famous for its anti-Israel animus — was set to publish a report examining its activities in the West Bank.

Arvind Ganesan, director of Human Rights Watch’s Business and Human Rights Division, praised the Airbnb move, which penalizes more than 200 local families, and urged “other companies to follow suit.”

Saeb Erekat, the senior Palestinian negotiator who denies Israel’s right to exist and has repeatedly refused every peace proposal in the past 25 years, thanked Airbnb for condemning what he defines as “a colonial occupation.”

Erekat has never uttered a word about the human rights abuses of Iran or Hezbollah in Syria. He knows perfectly well that efforts to boycott Judea and Samaria are really efforts to boycott all of Israel. The disputed territories are an excuse.

He is not the least bit concerned that BDS has been linked to the most rabid anti-Semitic groups and terror-financing sponsors.

Certainly Airbnb is aware of this, too. It is simply part of BDS’s game. Airbnb couches its decision in claims of encouraging a “lasting peace,” and a desire that “a framework is put in place … so there will be a resolution to this historic conflict and a clear path forward.”

If we carefully peer through this framework, we can see the smiling images of Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian president and PLO leader; his successor Mahmoud Abbas; and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar. We can hear Abbas’s declarations that he unequivocally refuses efforts to negotiate peace. We can see the textbooks used in Palestinian schools that teach children how to hate Jews and injure them with guns, knives, cars and missiles.

Journalist Fiamma Nirenstein is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.