RED LEVEL, AL, USA, December 15, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Two years ago, Airbnb announced that they would stop listing certain Jewish-owned properties, a blatant case of antisemitism.

Airbnb’s boycott of Jewish-owned properties in the historic land of Israel violated US federal and state laws, and after lawsuits were filed, and other actions threatened against Airbnb, the company ultimately rescinded their boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.

Airbnb’s discriminatory actions indicated that they are not averse to such steps, and there is a risk that they may re-institute such a boycott in the future.

Airbnb’s Registration Statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ahead of the IPO made no mention of the fact that Airbnb has a record of elevating third-party stakeholder interests over shareholder expectations of profit, an omission that Zachor Legal Institute identified as a likely violation of SEC rules requiring that registrants provide investors with all relevant material facts. In addition to Airbnb’s failure to discuss its propensity for violating established Delaware law on shareholder wealth maximization, Airbnb utterly failed to discuss the financial impact of losing tax benefits as a result of engaging in unsanctioned boycotts.

Among Zachor Legal Institute’s areas of focus is confronting discriminatory boycotts that have been promoted by a group known as the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (“BDS”) movement. The BDS movement has deep and extensive ties to designated foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and has infiltrated a number of organizations to spread a discriminatory agenda aimed at Jews and companies that do business with and in Israel.

To spread its unlawful boycott, the BDS movement (including through its allies at the United Nations) has published a blacklist of Israeli companies that it targets for boycotts. To cloak its illicit activities with a patina of legitimacy, BDS movement operatives have lobbied a number of corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) organizations and coerced them into including Jewish-owned companies on their blacklists for no reason other than the fact that the companies operate in Israel or have pro-Israel individuals in management.

Boycotts of Israel are prohibited under federal law in the United States. Companies that engage in prohibited boycotts can be subjected to prosecution and can also lose tax benefits. Furthermore, approximately half of all states in the United States have enacted laws that prohibit those states from entering into contracts with, or investing in, any company that participates in boycotts against Israel.

Marc Greendorfer, President of Zachor Legal Institute, remarked:

"In the past several years, Airbnb has been involved in unlawful and discriminatory boycotts of Jewish property owners. Airbnb’s policy was blatantly antisemitic, as it banned Jewish property owners from participating in its rental programs while allowing non-Jewish property owners in the same area to list properties. In addition, although there are more than 100 disputed territories designated by the UN, Airbnb chose to target only Israel.

As a consequence of Airbnb’s adoption of the BDS movement’s unlawful discriminatory boycotts of Jews, Airbnb was sued in a number of American courts as well as in Israel and was reported to federal authorities. Ultimately, Airbnb rescinded its discriminatory boycott of Jews and, for doing this, was placed on the UN blacklist. At this point, it is not known whether Airbnb will resume boycotting Jewish property owners in exchange for being removed from the UN blacklist, which makes full disclosure of the issue imperative. There is every reason to believe that antisemitic activists will resume pressuring Airbnb when they see that Airbnb’s securities are publicly traded."

About Zachor Legal Institute: Zachor Legal Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, uses the law to defend against anti-Semitism and delegitimization of Israel, with a focus on opposing BDS. To learn more, please visit www.zachorlegal.org.

Ron Machol
Zachor Legal Institute
+1 925-328-0128
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