The digital tourism company Booking.com is exploiting Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people for commercial profit.
Tourism is a vital pillar in Israel’s endeavour to normalize the apartheid system and occupation of Palestinian territory. Palestinian sites attracting many visitors, such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron, are located in territories occupied by Israel. Israelis, not Palestinians, reap the benefits from tourism to such sites, while visitors remain ignorant of the injustice being done to Palestinians. In its call “Do no harm!” in 2019, PACBI called on tourists to avoid services and products offered by Israeli service providers, whether or not in collaboration with international (digital) companies.
Booking.com directly supports and benefits from Israel’s illegal occupation of the illegally occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by offering services such as vacation homes and hotels in Israeli illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.
On 19 July 2023, the International Court of Justice found Israel guilty of apartheid against Palestinians and ruled that its military occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory is illegal. This means that all states, local governments, corporations, and institutions have a legal obligation to immediately end all forms of complicity that directly or indirectly enable Israel to maintain its illegal military occupation. They must also end complicity in Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza and the root cause of all this: Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler colonialism and apartheid.
The ELSC, Al-Haq, SOMO, and The Right Forum have filed a criminal complaint against Book.com to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service to hold Booking.com to account for profiting from the commission of war crimes in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian BDS National Committee joins BDS NL in supporting this criminal complaint and actively called to pressure Booking.com until it stops listing tourist accommodations, activities, and attractions in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory. This includes boycotts when a reasonable alternative exists, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, social media pressure, strategic litigation, etc.