Airbnb

Airbnb lets holidaymakers book homes in Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land, land whose Palestinian owners are barred from entering. It removed those listings once, in 2018, and put them back five months later after being sued. What it promised instead is the opening: every penny of profit from settlement bookings would go to humanitarian charities. Seven years on, Airbnb has never said how much that was.

Key Leverage Points

• Ask Airbnb to publish the donation figure. When it reversed the 2018 ban, Airbnb promised that all profit from West Bank host activity would go to humanitarian charities. It has never disclosed an amount or named a recipient. Asking for the number holds the company to its own promise, which is far harder to deflect than a demand to delist.
• Book elsewhere, and give the reason. Accommodation is the most easily substituted product in this directory; there is a direct competitor for every booking. Airbnb watches cancellation reasons and host-market data closely, so saying why matters as much as booking elsewhere.
• The UN has already done the work. Airbnb has been on the UN's database of businesses involved in settlements since it was first published in 2020, and was listed again in September 2025. A pension fund, university or council can act on that without investigating anything itself.
• It has folded once already. In November 2018 Airbnb removed around 200 settlement listings. That is proof the pressure works. The reversal five months later is proof it has to outlast the counter-pressure.
• Courts in several countries are already engaged. A French complaint filed in October 2025 covers Airbnb and Booking.com together, and there are separate actions in Ireland, the UK and the United States. Supporting them costs a campaigner nothing and compounds.

Evidence Summary

Airbnb lists properties in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. A Guardian investigation in August 2024 counted 350 listings offering 760 rooms, enough for more than 2,000 guests at a time. Human Rights Watch and the Israeli research group Kerem Navot traced the land beneath them: much of it was confiscated from Palestinians who cannot visit, let alone let out, their own property. In July 2024 the International Court of Justice ruled Israel's occupation unlawful, and said states should prevent economic activity that helps sustain it.

The sequence that defines this company ran over five months. In November 2018 Airbnb announced it would remove around 200 settlement listings. The Israeli government responded at once: the strategic affairs minister called for US anti-boycott laws to be used against the company, and the tourism minister threatened to restrict its ability to operate in Israel. Lawyers organised suits in Israel, and a US action under the Fair Housing Act on behalf of twelve dual US-Israeli citizens who own settlement homes. In April 2019 Airbnb reversed, and the US case did not proceed.

The promise it made instead has never been honoured in public. Airbnb said all profits from West Bank host activity would be donated to humanitarian non-profits. It has declined to say how much has been donated since 2019, or to whom. The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. A report published in June 2025 named Airbnb, describing that arrangement as converting profit from the settlements into humanitarian-washing.

Airbnb has been on the UN's settlements database since 2020 and was listed again in the September 2025 update, which covers 158 companies. In October 2025 the French human rights organisation Ligue des droits de l'Homme filed a criminal complaint in Paris against Airbnb and Booking.com, alleging complicity in the aggravated concealment of war crimes through what it called occupation tourism. None of these allegations has been tried (sources).

Engagement Strategy

Airbnb is unusually exposed for a company on this list. It sells directly to the public, its product is trivially substitutable, and it has already shown once that it will move.

• Travellers. Book elsewhere and give the reason. If you host on Airbnb, say so publicly when you leave.
• Airbnb. Ask for one number: the total donated from West Bank host activity since 2019, and the recipients.
• Institutions. Universities, councils and employers with travel policies can drop the platform from approved booking channels, citing the UN listing rather than any political judgement.

The 2018 win lasted five months because the counter-pressure outlasted the campaign. Whatever is asked for now should be something Airbnb can be held to in public afterwards, which is why the donation figure matters more than another delisting promise.