The latest company to have succumbed to the pressure and ultimately joined in the effort to delegitimize Israel is the travel service website 'Booking.com.' The popular website began adding warnings to listings that were beyond the imaginary boundary between Israel, Judea & Samaria called the 'Green Line', and some that were not. However, to the company's credit, after reviewing the policy Booking executives have partially reversed course.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that following a "discreet and effective dialogue" with the company's management, the warning markers, which according to Booking has also been published in other conflict zones in the world, will not include a warning of harm to security and human rights.
https://t.co/PXv6LB2CBr reverses decision to slap warning on Jewish sites in Judea and Samaria | World Israel News https://t.co/XjztWDx6ZG
— Eli Dror (@edrormba) October 2, 2022
The new markings, which according to the company appear for all areas in the world that are in dispute, will not include anything regarding the settlements being “occupied territory” as many pro-Palestinian activists allege, but will state next to those accommodations that "attention should be drawn to the existing travel warnings for these areas for personal safety reasons."
Booking claims that the warning marking all accommodations over the green line is simply a way to be transparent with their customers. "Our mission at Booking.com is to make it easy for everyone to experience the world," the company said in a statement.
The good news: https://t.co/0XYKXrq3hY will warn travelers to the West Bank that it is "conflict-affected" aka occupied.
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 1, 2022
The bad news: https://t.co/0XYKXrq3hY hasn't stopped listings in Israel's illegal settlements, making it complicit in these war crimes. https://t.co/BXS7Un7htY
"Over the coming months, we plan to add warnings to the site regarding more than 30 regions around the world to ensure that our customers have all the information they need to make informed decisions about the destinations they are considering traveling to that may be cataloged as conflict-affected and may pose a risk for travelers.
"The goal is simply to provide information for customers so they can make their own decisions, or at least check their government's official travel guidelines as part of their decision-making process. These alerts will also appear regarding additional areas that may be cataloged as controversial or conflict-affected."
When people asked "but why are you responding so hard to Ben & Jerry's or AirBnB boycotts", well, this. So companies like https://t.co/mAhWqO1mHX would think twice about engaging in BDS activities against #Israel. And it worked!
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) October 2, 2022
From my interview today on @i24NEWS_EN: pic.twitter.com/bZuJ8mZDQe
Among the settlements where the warning will appear are the Israeli city of Ariel and the Jerusalem suburb of Ma'ale Adumim, two main, well-established communities that fall over the armistice line of 1949 that many call the Green Line, but are well within the boundaries of Israel after Jordan retreated in 1967. According to Booking.com’s statement, the text that is expected to appear next to those places is that "a visit to this area may be accompanied by an increased risk to safety, human rights and other risks to guests and the local community."
