Pro-Palestine protesters recently crashed Booking.com’s Manchester-based headquarters in their new campaign targeting the company.
The travel organisation was subject to an ‘office crash’ organised by the group Youth Front For Palestine (YFFP).
Around 25 activists entered the company’s office, read speeches, chanted, and held up a banner reading: “Booking.com promotes Israeli settlements. No tourism on stolen land.”
YFFP confirmed this is just one protest in a long campaign to force the Dutch company to divest from “illegal settlements”.
The weekly protest for Palestine in Manchester also culminated at Booking.com’s headquarters.
A YFFP spokesperson said: “Over a year has passed since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and many companies remain deeply complicit in the terror this regime is unleashing in Palestine.
“Through its listings in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Booking.com is profiteering from Zionist colonial aspirations across the whole of Palestine.
“We demand that these listings are dropped immediately, that people boycott Booking.com until they are dropped, and that Booking.com workers do everything in their power to end their employer’s complicity”.
Criminal complaint
YFFP’s campaign follows a Dutch criminal complaint filed against Booking.com by human rights groups accusing the company of war crimes.
SOMO, Al Haq, The European Legal Support Centre, and The Rights Forum filed the ongoing complaint in 2023.
The NGO SOMO reported 70 properties listed in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank between 2021 and 2023.
Profiting from settlements on occupied Palestinian land is deemed illegal under international law, as reported by Human Rights Watch.
Therefore, SOMO argues, Booking.com’s listings constitute as money laundering under Dutch financial crimes legislation.
The travel company has denied this complaint, and has maintained there are no laws prohibiting their listings.
A Booking.com spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of life as a result of the war in Gaza and remain hopeful for a lasting, peaceful resolution.
“We are aware of the concerns that have been raised about some of the listings on our platform in the West Bank, which we take very seriously.
“Our mission at Booking.com is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. That’s why we believe it’s up to travellers to decide where they want and need to go.
“If a particular region may be categorised as disputed or affected by conflict, and as a result, may pose greater risks, we include information to help make sure travellers can make their own informed decisions.”
Previous decisions
Booking.com previously said it would warn customers viewing Israeli settlements that the area is “occupied” and may risk “human rights”.
However, the company backtracked on this decision in 2022 after pressure from the Israeli government.
Booking.com has changed the word “occupied” to “conflict affected”, alongside adding warnings to both Israeli and Palestinian listings.
Airbnb also announced it would remove listings of illegal Israeli settlements in 2018 before reversing this decision the following year.
Featured image: YFFP
