Alan Baker
Alan BakerDavid Hochberg

Alan Baker, A former legal adviser to Israel's foreign ministry and former ambassador to Canada amd the head of the international law program at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, talks about US company Airbnb desicion to remove Israeli Judea and Samaria listings.

"There has been a concerted intent by the Palestinian leadership, leaving a letter from January 2016 by Saeb Erekat, director general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Palestinian chief negotiator, asking the CEO of Airbnb to stop this boycott", said Baker.

He added, "In my opinion, it all stems from what's called the BDS, the boycott campaign by the Palestinian leadership to try and harm Israel economically and culturally. Of course, there're additional bodies and organizations that would immediately go along with this, but the source of it is Saeb Erekat".

In his opinion, Airbnb will lose. "They might benefit in getting some positive viewpoints from anti-Israel elements. They haven't benefited and they won't benefit from it, first of all, because they're removing a huge amount of customers within Israel, within West Bank areas, Israel's towns and villages in, addition to people all over the world who will view this as a very hostile act taken by Airbnb aligning itself in a very partisan way with organizations that are intent on undermining Israel".