Class action filed against Airbnb for ‘outrageous discrimination’

An Israeli settler who in the past advertised an apartment on Airbnb filed a request for class action against the rental giant to the Jerusalem District Court.

Ma’anit Rabinovich of the Kida outpost says in her request that the decision to ban listings in West Bank settlements constitutes “severe, offensive and extremely outrageous discrimination on the basis of place of residence, country of origin and opinion.”

Rabinovich says she never received an update from Airbnb on its decision, despite having advertised short-term rentals on the website in the past.

“It was way more important to the company to ‘run’ quickly to the media to voice its decision, instead of first updating all the people it was about to harm,” she charges.

The lawsuit also targets Kerem Navot, a left-wing Israeli NGO that helped Human Rights Watch draft a report on apartment rentals in the West Bank. Rabinovich claims the group is “an inseparable part of the BDS movement” and pressured Airbnb to make its decision.

The lawsuit accuses Airbnb of pretending its decision was directed broadly at conflict zones, while it “actually is policy directed solely at those living in settlements in Israel in Judea and Samaria.”