Airbnb: We will look into dropping listings in Western Sahara next

An Airbnb official tells The Times of Israel that it is evaluating whether to drop its listings in the disputed territory of Western Sahara two days after the vacation rental giant announced that it would remove homes in Israeli settlements from its site.

“In the statement we issued on Monday, we noted that we have developed a framework for evaluating how we should treat listings in occupied territories around the world. Western Sahara is one example of a place where we will use this framework,” the official says.

Israeli officials including Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan have lambasted Airbnb’s initial decision as “racist” and anti-Semitic,” arguing that it was applying a different standard to the Jewish state than it was in dealing with other disputed territories around the world.

The Airbnb official clarifies that the decision — which will go into effect in the coming days — will only be applied to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and not homes in East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights.