The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) condemns Amnesty International’s campaign against AirBnb, Expedia, Booking.com and TripAdvisor as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign.
Amnesty International is lobbying these four major digital tourism brands to cease all commercial activities with Israeli properties in East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Amnesty International also intends to lobby governments to legislate against companies conducting business in these areas.
By collaborating with the BDS movement, Amnesty International is aligning itself with an antisemitic organisation. Although the BDS movement parades itself as a civil rights movement, founder Omar Barghouti has exposed its true purpose, which is to undermine the two state solution and delegitimise the State of Israel. Barghouti has explicitly called for the elimination of Israel and has proudly stated that he opposes a Jewish State in any part of Palestine. If Amnesty International is indeed concerned with peaceful coexistence and international law, it should instead associate with other genuine human rights movements.
Additionally, this latest campaign explicitly undermines the peace process. It is widely accepted that the final status of East Jerusalem and the West Bank must be resolved through good faith negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. After the most recent negotiations broke down, the Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiating table. By advocating boycotts and blatantly disregarding Israel’s territorial claims to these disputed areas, Amnesty International is adopting a one-sided and biased position on the conflict which fails to incentivise the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.
ZFA President, Jeremy Leibler, recently called out the hypocrisy of Amnesty International’s advocacy work in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict. “Amnesty International is notorious for cherry picking human rights issues which are consistent with its biased and one-sided agenda.
If Amnesty International were indeed committed to working towards a peaceful resolution in the region, it would condemn President Mahmoud Abbas for failing to hold democratic elections 14 years into his four-year term and would denounce his Government’s state-sponsored Martyr Fund, which financially compensates terrorists for perpetrating acts of terror against Israeli civilians. Instead, Amnesty International chooses to bury its head in the sand and peddle a biased narrative which seeks to delegitimise Israel and undermine any genuine steps towards a negotiated peace.”
For media enquiries contact:
Jeremy Leibler, President, Zionist Federation of Australia – +61 417 382 387, jleibler@abl.com.au
Ariel Zohar, Media and Advocacy Director, Zionist Federation of Australia – +61 425 872 296, ariel@zfa.com.au
