Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

A travel warning for tourists planning to stay in Israeli settlements is expected to be issued as early as Thursday. According to the company's statement, a text will appear next to certain accommodations saying that "a visit to this area may be accompanied by an increased risk to safety, human rights and other risks to guests and the local community,"  Booking.com plans to say according to Channel 13 News, which first broke this story.

The company's spokesperson noted that Israel will not be the only country to which the new labeling rules will apply. In 2018, another digital tourism service Airbnb announced it would remove properties located in West Bank Jewish settlements from its rental listing. However, in 2020, the Amnesty International human rights group claimed that the company has still not imposed the ban.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Popular travel site plans to warn visitors of crossing Green Line appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In response to a petition by Palestinians living near the Samaria settlement of Eli, the government has promised the High Court of Justice that within three years, two buildings in the community's Naot Ilan neighborhood will be evacuated, Israel Hayom has learned.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The government's commitment is a weighty one, as Eli is a long-standing settlement, rather than a recently-erected outpost, and the buildings in question were constructed roughly a decade ago and are family homes.

The government made its promise to the High Court at the start of this week as part of a response to the Palestinians' petition, which was filed in 2011 against 20 buildings in Eli.

Eli was founded some 30 years ago through a cabinet decision and without any orderly planning process. This past year, an expedited process has regulated the status of nearly all the buildings in the community, including most of the structures mentioned in the petition.

Years ago, a team from the IDF's Civil Administration mapped the boundaries of Eli and determined that the two buildings slated for evacuation did not fall within the bounds of the state-owned lands, and therefore could not be regulated.

Since then, the government has repeatedly asked the High Court to find a solution to the issue and has avoided making any decision about evacuating the two buildings. The regulation team appointed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finished its work in the summer of 2020, without making any recommendation for the future of the buildings, throwing the hot potato into the lap of the current government.

The High Court requested updates on the matter, but over the last eight months, the government has repeatedly postponed any formal messages about the situation. This week, after the judges demanded to be informed about the status of the buildings, the government submitted a response that said, "After another review of the issue and despite the instructions from the political leadership to examine ways of regulating the buildings, no real possibility of doing so has been found. The government intends to evacuate these two buildings."

Because the buildings are home to a number of families for whom alternate housing must be found, the government has asked the High Court for an extension of three years to the evacuation date.

Heads of the Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset, MKs Yoav Kisch and Orit Strock, said, "This week, the government informed the High Court of Justice that it agrees to demolish the homes of four families in Eli. This is a horrifying, shocking announcement."

"Rather than preventing the destruction of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, the government is busy regulating the illegal construction crimes in the Bedouin sector. This is a badge of shame for the government, which is freezing construction, as well as going back on all its promises to regulate [settlements] and also demolishing Jews' homes," Strock and Kisch said.

Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz said, "We are surprised that the government is falling in line with the Arab petitioners and announcing that it will, heaven forbid, demolish two homes where families have been living for years, which are part of a living, vibrant neighborhood.

"Razing a home whose status was legal and which a new review by the Civil Administration left outside the settlement's borders is a new low in crimes against settlement in Judea and Samaria. These two homes are just a preview. We have hundreds of homes with similar status in the Binyamin settlements and thousands throughout the settlements as a whole that suddenly found themselves outside the new 'blue lines' drawn in the Civil Administration's work. No normal country would demolish homes in a situation like this," Gantz said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post The next settlement fight? 2 buildings in Eli to be evacuated appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The move is a significant one because the Committee of University Heads has refused to accept the university status of Ariel (formerly Ariel University Center of Samaria).

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The Planning and Budgeting Committee handles the budget for Israel's entire system of higher education and decides on both regular budgets and development budget for the country's institutions of higher education.

On Tuesday, Higher Education Minister Zeev Elkin expressed his satisfaction at Navon-Venezia being elected to the committee, saying, "I thank the members of the Council for Higher Education for the support of Professor Navon-Venezia, despite the heavy pressure from the Committee of University Heads."

"I call on those heads to put disagreements aside and work together ahead of the start of the next academic year, in the shadow of coronavirus," Elkin said.

The Committee of University Heads issued a statement wishing Navon-Venezia success, but noted that "the election process Minister Zeev Elkin led was flawed, and could hurt academic independence in Israel."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post In a first, Ariel U. professor elected to key committee appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The ECJ is currently considering a request from France's top tribunal "for clarification of rules on labeling goods" from Judea and Samaria, east Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

According to French news agency AFP, while the ECJ is not obliged to follow Advocate General Gerard Hogan's advice, the former Irish judge's legal opinions are considered as highly influential in the bench's deliberations.

In his brief, Hogan said that under EU laws, labels must make it clear if products originate from occupied territories, and particularly if they come from Israeli settlements beyond the Green Line.

"EU law requires, for a product originating in a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the indication of the geographical name of this territory and, where it is the case, the indication that the product comes from an Israeli settlement," an ECJ statement outlining Hogan's legal opinion said.

In his brief, Hogan said the EU rules on labeling products take into account "ethical considerations" that might influence a consumer's purchases.

According to the report, citing previous EU court rulings saying that Israel's settlement policy is illegal, Hogan said: "It is hardly surprising that some consumers may regard this manifest breach of international law as an ethical consideration that influences their consumer preferences and in respect of which they may require further information.

"The absence of the indication of the country of origin or place of provenance of a product originating in a territory occupied by Israel and, in any event, a settlement colony, might mislead the consumer as to the true country of origin or place of provenance of the food," he said.

The Lawfare Project, a legal think tank and litigation fund that fights anti-Semitism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, said that if the ECJ adopts Hogan's recommendation "it would open a Pandora's box of lawsuits" against European companies that fail to "properly label products from relevant countries of origin," unless the requirements were applied only to Israel, in which case it would be a "flagrant act of discrimination."

Lawfare Project Director Brooke Goldstein told Israel Hayom that "the European court has a historic opportunity to put an end to this double standard, which is morality biased against Israel.

"This type of label is a blatant act of discrimination. There are hundreds of disputed territories around the world, but only Israeli businesses and European companies that work with them will find themselves targeted by these unnecessary political requirements," she said.

The post Adviser to top EU court: Settlement goods should be labeled appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

"I call today on all those who support Israel and oppose discriminatory boycotts: They should cease using Airbnb and turn to other services," Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan told a diplomatic conference hosted by The Jerusalem Post newspaper.

"By the way, Booking.com is a great service," added Erdan, the point man in Israeli government efforts to combat pro-Palestinian boycotts.

Airbnb said on Monday it would remove some 200 settlement listings after hearing criticism from people who "believe companies should not profit on lands where people have been displaced."

The Palestinians have welcomed the San Francisco-based firm's move.

"Airbnb took a decision in the right direction to stop dealings with Israeli settlements, consistent with international legitimacy," Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior official with the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said.

"Erdan's incitement comes in the course of continued attempts by the Israeli extremist government to intimidate companies, parties and individuals who try to try to take good decisions that agree with international resolutions."

A spokesman for Airbnb declined to comment on the Israeli minister's remarks. In a statement, Chris Lehane, Airbnb's global head of policy and communications, said: "Israel is a special place and our over 22,000 hosts are special people who have welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests to Israel.

"We understand that this is a hard and complicated issue and we appreciate everyone's perspective."

Human Rights Watch hailed Airbnb's delisting decision and, in a report on Tuesday, called on Booking.com to follow suit.

Booking.com did not respond on the matter.

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, addressing Wednesday's conference separately, backed Erdan's call to boycott Airbnb and suggested Israel also deploy its own anti-discrimination laws.

Israel has said it would turn to the Trump administration and could back lawsuits against Airbnb within U.S. states that have legislated against anti-Israel boycotts.

In Israel, one 2017 law empowers courts to award cash compensation to claimants who prove they have been denied goods or services because of where they live.

"I checked yesterday with my office, with the attorney general, whether we can operate this law, and the answer is positive," Shaked said. "We need to do anything we can in order to fight them back in order that they will change their decision."

The post Israeli minister urges Airbnb boycott, talks up rival service  appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.