Home-rental company Airbnb announced on Monday that it was removing its listings in Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria, drawing outrage from Israeli officials.
The Airbnb website has more than 200,000 rental listings in over 26,000 cities in 192 countries, and is considered the largest and most reliable website of its kind.
The company said it will take down some 200 listings and cease its operations in Israeli settlements "that are at the core of the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians."
It was not immediately clear when the move would take effect.
The company had previously defended its past operations beyond the Green Line, saying they were in accordance with U.S. law and its own mission "to bring people together in as many places as possible around the world."
Airbnb said the decision to remove the contentious listings came after consulting with experts and "wrestling with the ethics" of whether to do business in Israeli settlements, which much of the international community views as illegal.
Palestinians and human rights groups have long pressured the company to remove the listings.
Human Rights Watch said the decision came just as the group was preparing to issue a 65-page report investigating tourist rental listings in settlements, including by Airbnb.
Arvind Ganesan, director of the group's business and human rights division, called Airbnb's move "an important recognition that such listings can't square with its human rights responsibilities." He urged other companies to follow suit.
Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, who heads Israel's battle against the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, slammed the decision and called on Airbnb hosts affected by the move to file lawsuits under Israel's anti-boycott law.
"National conflicts exist all over the world. The senior management of Airbnb will have to explain why they specifically, and uniquely, chose to implement this political and discriminatory decision only against Israel," he said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said her office will "work to convince Airbnb to reverse this shameful decision. This is first-class hypocrisy."
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin slammed the decision and ordered his office to restrict the company's activity throughout the country. He also instructed the ministry to ramp up its tourism programs in Judea and Samaria.
The Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, wondered why "a company that has no scruples about operating in dictatorships all over the world was targeting Israel," and said it would seek legal action against the company if it goes through with its decision.
Eugene Kontorovich, an international law expert, accused Airbnb of anti-Semitism and cooperating with the Palestinian-led BDS movement.
Kontorovich, who has helped the U.S. and Israel draft anti-boycott legislation, said the company had singled out Israel while allowing properties to be listed in other occupied or disputed areas of the world, such as northern Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh and the western Sahara.
