ISRAELI ministers hit back today at US-based home-renting company Airbnb after it removed listings for properties in the illegally occupied West Bank.

A statement on the Airbnb website said: “We concluded that we should remove listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Israel’s Tourism Minister Yariv Levin instructed his ministry to restrict Airbnb operations in Israel too.

He demanded that Airbnb cancel its “discriminatory” decision, calling it “shameful and miserable.”

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan called on Airbnb hosts affected by the decision to file lawsuits against the company in accordance with Israel’s law banning compliance with the international BDS campaign to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.

Mr Erdan said he would approach senior US officials to check if the Airbnb decision violated anti-boycott laws “that exist in over 25 states.”

He added that “national conflicts exist throughout the world and Airbnb will need to explain why it chose a racist political stance against some Israeli citizens.”

The Yesha Council, which represents illegal West Bank settlers, responded that “a company that has no qualms about renting apartments in dictatorships around the world and in places that have no relationship with human rights is singling out Israel.

“This can only be a result of anti-semitism or surrendering to terrorism — or both.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat retorted that Airbnb should have included occupied East Jerusalem and should have said the settlements “are illegal and constitute war crimes.”

He declared: “We reiterate our call upon the UN Human Rights Council to release the database of companies profiting from the Israeli colonial occupation.”

Airbnb came under Palestinian criticism for such listings, for failing to mention the property is on occupied Palestinian land.

By contributing to the settlement economy, Airbnb, like other companies doing business in the West Bank, helps perpetuate Israel’s settlement enterprise, they say.

The US-based NGO Human Rights Watch released a new report today, showing that businesses operating in illegal Israeli West Bank settlements contribute to and benefit from “an inherently unlawful and abusive system that violates the rights of Palestinians.”