Israeli Airbnb guest refused by British host because of citizenship

Airbnb posted a reply saying it would investigate the matter. Another Facebook user commented on Kelmer’s post, saying, “Appalling and sadly, happens too often.”

By JTA
Updated: FEBRUARY 14, 2016 11:11
Tower Bridge and the River Thames, London (photo credit: REUTERS)
Tower Bridge and the River Thames, London
(photo credit: REUTERS)
An Israeli man said a British Airbnb host refused to rent an apartment to him because, the host said, Israelis don’t respect “basic human rights.”
 A Tel Aviv based photographer reserved a London apartment for a week in March through the online company, which has come under fire recently for listing properties in West Bank settlements. In some cases, the listings indicate that the properties are in Israel proper.
When Kelmer contacted the host with a question about public transportation, the host said he could not “even consider hosting you,” the UK’s Jewish News reported.
“This is how the world pictures you: aggressive settlers occupying land, destroying houses. In a few words: not respecting basic human rights,” the message said. “On that basis, I just cannot even consider hosting you, even if you pay me millions.”
The photographer posted to Airbnb’s Facebook page: “We were served a healthy dose of Grade A, European bigotry and discrimination at its finest, poorly masked as so-called, socially-conscious political protest of the worst, most prejudiced kind, that is strictly reserved to Israelis.”
The company posted a reply saying it would investigate the matter. Another Facebook user commented on his post, saying, “Appalling and sadly, happens too often.”
In December, a 13-year-old Israeli girl received a somewhat similar rebuff from a British citizen. When Shachar Rabinovitch of Zichron Yaakov emailed Marsha Levine, a former academic at the University of Cambridge, with questions for a research project on horses, Levine responded that she supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
“You might be a child, but if you are old enough to write to me, you are old enough to learn about Israeli history and how it has impacted on the lives of Palestinian people,” Levine wrote.