Airbnb debuts on Wall Street but faces flak for listing Israeli settlements

Amnesty International blasted home rental behemoth Airbnb on Thursday for benefitting from rental properties in what are considered illegally-seized Palestinian settlements. In the meantime, the company made its long-awaited Wall Street debut. 

The rights group criticised Airbnb’s failure to inform shareholders of these settlements in their Registration Statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, despite being included in a 2020 UN list of over 100 businesses, that “directly and indirectly, enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the settlements.”

The company currently lists about 200 properties on Palestianian lands illegally captured by Israeli settlers. 

Promoting tourism at the expense of Palestinians

Airbnb has not responded to the Amnesty charge. In an earlier statement, it had said that it would donate profits from these territories to “non-profit organizations dedicated to humanitarian aid.” 

However, the human rights group pointed out that keeping the listings entails supporting the growth and development of a tourist industry “at the expense of Palestianian rights and livelihoods.”

“A large number of people will indirectly hold investments in Airbnb without understanding the full ramifications,” it said. 

Airbnb’s shares closed at about $144 each on Thursday, giving the company a valuation of over $100 billion. Raising $3.7 billion in its offering, it was the biggest US IPO this year, despite the damages incurred from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A war crime under international law”

Two years ago, Airbnb had announced that it would delist the circa 200 properties listed in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, heeding calls from human rights organisations. It reversed this decision less than 6 months later.

“These settlements are a war crime under international law. Airbnb needs to do right by future investors and stop benefiting from illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” said Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director of the MENA region, Saleh Higazi. 

Israeli settlements constitute violations of International Law. The Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the ICC prohibit the transfer of civilian populations by the Occupying Power into the territory it occupies. 

Despite widespread condemnation of the settlements by the international community, Israel persists in their construction. 

Israeli NGO, Peace Now, which tracks these settlements, says that over 440,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, while there are another 220,000 settlers in East Jerusalem.  

According to the group, Israel has increased its settlement activity by 25 percent since 2017.