Israel Wants to Take Airbnb to Court for Excluding West Bank Settlements

(Bloomberg) -- Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said she’s considering ways to bring Airbnb Inc. to court over its decision to stop renting out homes in Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank.

“There are a few paths we need to take and we need to do everything we can to fight back and get them to change their decision,” Shaked said at a conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

She cited U.S. state laws against boycotts, and Israeli legislation outlawing discrimination by place of residence.

The San Francisco-based company has said it would remove about 200 home and room rentals in a region at the center of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Airbnb said that although U.S. law allows for it to continue operating there, it made its controversial decision after consulting with outside policy experts.

Since seizing the West Bank during a 1967 war, Israel has built more than 130 Jewish settlements that were authorized by the government, according to Israeli group Peace Now. More than 100 other outposts were built illegally over the last two decades, and Israeli courts have ruled many should be removed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Alisa Odenheimer

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