Airbnb caves in to Israeli settlers

Human rights groups are condemning Airbnb’s reversal of its decision to ban listings in Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.

 Wisam HashlamounAPA images

Nora Barrows-Friedman -10 April 2019

Caving to pressure from Israeli government officials, settlers and US politicians, Airbnb has
 announced on Tuesday it is reversing its decision to de-list rental properties in Israeli 
settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The decision of @Airbnb to continue to allow accommodation listings in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is a reprehensible & cowardly move that will be another devastating blow for the human rights of Palestinians. https://t.co/uLEv9SzpHa

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) 10 April 2019

Amnesty International called Airbnb’s U-turn a “reprehensible and cowardly move that will

be another devastating blow for the human rights of Palestinians.”

Airbnb announced last November it was dropping nearly 200 listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, acknowledging that this was the result of years of steady campaigning by human rights activists.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, are illegal under international law.

Since then the vacation rental company has faced heavy pressure by Israeli and US officials who claimed that the move was “discriminatory” against Israeli settlers.

The governments of Florida and Texas directed all state contractors to cease doing business with Airbnb in retaliation for its decision to respect international law.

Palestinians who live under occupation and confinement in the West Bank – or elsewhere in exile – cannot rent Airbnb properties in nearby Israeli settlements. Under Israel’s legalized discriminatory system, Israel bars Palestinians from accessing the areas merely because they are not Jewish.

In January, Airbnb appeared to reiterate its decision to remove the settlement listings.

But Israeli settlers – who rent out properties on land stolen from Palestinians – had filed a suit against Airbnb, claiming discriminaton under the Fair Housing Act.

The US law protects people against discrimnination on the basis of race, religion and national origin when buying or renting a home.

It obviously was not applied to Palestinians whose land the settlers illegally occupy and profit off.

Rahim Kurwa@rahimkurwa

Infuriating to see the Fair Housing Act used to bully @airbnb into allowing settlers to profit from stealing Palestinian homes by listing them on the site (& ofc Palestinians can't rent them). How is the FHA too weak to protect fair housing here, yet protects colonization there?

6

5:02 PM - Apr 9, 2019

View image on Twitter

Omar Shakir

✔@OmarSShakir

Disappointing @Airbnb decision reverses their stance to fully respect rights. Donating profits from unlawful settlement listings does nothing to remedy 'human suffering' they've acknowledged causing. By continuing to do business in settlements, they remain complicit in abuses.

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5:30 PM - Apr 9, 2019

The Center for Constitutional Rights recently filed a countersuit against the settlers on behalf of two Palestinians in the United States for profiting from property stolen from their families in the occupied West Bank, by listing them on Airbnb.

CCR slammed Airbnb’s decision to cave “to the legal bullying of Israeli settlers,” calling it an “alarming lack of commitment to human rights.”

View image on Twitter

The CCR@theCCR

We are dismayed that Airbnb has caved to the legal bullying of Israeli settlers and re-listed properties in illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. Airbnb’s decision reflects an alarming lack of commitment to human rights. #StolenLand

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6:22 PM - Apr 9, 2019

“When we filed counterclaims on behalf of the Palestinians who actually own the land the listed properties unlawfully sit on, we laid out the international and domestic law violations committed by the settlers, including war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the group stated on Tuesday.

“In backing down from its decision not to list properties in occupied Palestinian territory, Airbnb is in breach of its international human rights obligations, and is discriminating against Palestinians,” CCR added.

Airbnb absolves itself

In its announcement this week, Airbnb said it would not take any profit from the settlement listings but would instead donate the money to unnamed not-for-profit organizations “dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world.”

But Amnesty International’s researcher on business and human rights remarked that Airbnb was merely attempting to absolve itself from scrutiny and responsibility over its complicity in human rights violations.

The move “fails to change the fact that by continuing to drive tourism to illegal settlements they are helping to boost the settlement economy,” Mark Dummett stated.

“In doing so, they are directly contributing to the maintenance and expansion of illegal settlements, a breach of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime under [the] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” Dummett added.

Airbnb has already been warned by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that it could be included in an as yet unpublished database of firms doing business with Israeli settlements.

“Airbnb had a clear opportunity to make the right decision to uphold human rights and use their influence to set a precedent in the tourism industry,” Amnesty’s Dummett said. “Instead, they have chosen to bury their heads in the sand – ignoring blatant evidence that they are helping to fuel violations that cause immense suffering to Palestinians.”

He noted that Airbnb’s reversal “demonstrates why we can’t just rely on companies to take the right decisions,” adding that governments must make sure corporations respect international law and human rights.

This is infuriating. In the upside down world of unlawful settlements, built on stolen Palestinian land, Jewish settlers are claiming discrimination. And @Airbnb is backpedaling on a very important coalition win. SHAME and now we go back to organizing. https://t.co/wOmjHUnekq

— JewishVoiceForPeace (@jvplive) 9 April 2019

Going back to organizing

Human rights activists say that they will ramp up organizing against Airbnb, continuing their #StolenHomes campaign.

JewishVoiceForPeace

✔@jvplive

 · Apr 9, 2019

This is infuriating. In the upside down world of unlawful settlements, built on stolen Palestinian land, Jewish settlers are claiming discrimination. And @Airbnb is backpedaling on a very important coalition win. SHAME and now we go back to organizing. https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/embargoed-airbnb-will-cancel-its-ban-on-west-bank-settlement-listings#.XK0L0Adh-Ww.twitter …

Airbnb will cancel its ban on West Bank settlement listings - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

A dozen American Jewish plaintiffs had sued the company claiming discrimination.

jta.org

JewishVoiceForPeace

✔@jvplive

IF you are an owner or user at Airbnb with a verified phone number you can call them at their HQ and give them a piece of your mind: (855) 424-7262
Remind them that vacationing in #stolenhomes is what they're enabling and participating in.

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5:47 PM - Apr 9, 2019

The coalition of groups including Jewish Voice for Peace, CODEPINK, American Muslims for Palestine, SumOfUs and the US Palestinian Community Network has held actions at the Airbnb headquarters and created a petition signed by more than 150,000 people from around the world, urging the company to de-list settlement rentals.

“If Airbnb wants to continue to allow rental suites on the ruins of Palestinian lives and land then they will continue to get pressured to do the right thing,” Granate Kim of Jewish Voice for Peace said.

Miller and Kushner on a potential collision course in Trump’s border crisis

From left, senior adviser Jared Kushner, Oval Office Operations Director Jordan Karem and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller follow President Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 26. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Ashley Parker ,Josh DawseyandRobert Costa-April 10 at 10:30 AM

In President Trump’s latest blowup over immigration, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller hovered omnipresent in the background — goading him in his threats to close the border, warning him of the dangers of looking weak and encouraging the president’s sudden purge of his homeland security team.

Another top adviser who has Trump’s ear on immigration, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, maintained a lower profile during the uproar. Shortly before joining Trump on a trip to the southern border — where the president said that the “country is full” — Kushner met privately with the Mexican ambassador to discuss a more collaborative approach.

The contrast highlights the good cop-bad cop roles on immigration that Kushner, 38, and Miller, 33, now inhabit in Trump’s West Wing, with the latter ascendant as he pushes a frustrated president to champion draconian border policies and rhetoric.

The two political survivors from Trump’s 2016 campaign have emerged as all but untouchable because of their close relationships — and, in Kushner’s case, familial ties — with the president. But if Miller represents Trump’s id — reaffirming his hard-line immigration impulses — Kushner attempts to channel the president’s desire to be seen as a consummate dealmaker.

President Trump has threatened to close the southern border unless Mexico stops migrants from coming into the U.S. (Video: Luis Velarde/Photo: Sergio Flores/The Washington Post)

The differences put the two advisers on a potential collision course — adding to the swirl of confusion over how Trump intends to cope with a surge of migrants at the border, according to interviews with 21 White House aides, administration officials, lawmakers, Republican operatives and Trump confidants, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal private discussions.

So far, though, White House officials say the two have maintained a friendly working relationship, focused on divergent but complementary imperatives.

Following Trump’s border trip, for example, both flew back to Washington on Air Force One, landing Saturday shortly after 8 p.m. About an hour later, they were together again at the Kalorama home of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, for a private dinner with a handful of other West Wing aides and their partners — a previously planned gathering that one White House official described as illustrating the rapport between the two men.

Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller listens as President Trump and Vice President Pence meet with top Democrats in the Oval Office on Dec. 11. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

“Any suggestion that Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller have anything but a cordial and professional relationship would be misplaced,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a strong ally of President Trump. “Over and over, I’ve seen them work together on policy issues and deep deliberations that have the potential for being contentious, but there is mutual respect.”

Yet the emerging fault lines between the two are evident as cracks have widened under Trump’s border policies. 

Kushner — a self-styled pragmatist — has pushed for a broader immigration deal, viewing Congress and a bipartisan agreement as necessary to finding a solution amid divided government. Miller — a fiery ideologue — has repeatedly advocated cutting legal immigration, rethinking the country’s asylum policies and implementing harsh measures to secure the southern border. He views executive power and assertiveness as Trump’s best tools, including the moves in recent days to oust Kirstjen Nielsen, head of the Department of Homeland Security, and other top DHS officials.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was a loyal soldier for President Trump and often repeated his falsehoods, but it wasn’t enough to save her job. (Video: JM Rieger/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

During this year’s government shutdown, Trump specifically asked Kushner to take on a portion of the administration’s immigration portfolio, in part because of relationships he developed with Mexican leaders during NAFTA renegotiation talks.

More recently, Trump told Miller during an Oval Office meeting that he was in charge of overseeing immigration and border issues, according to officials familiar with the meeting.

It remains unclear whose immigration philosophy will ultimately be embraced by Trump, who faces a looming reelection bid and complaints from his political base and conservative media personalities that his administration is not doing enough to solve the central dilemma of his presidency.

Trump said in answer to a reporter’s question on Wednesday that Miller is a “brilliant man” but that on immigration policy, “there’s only one person running it. You know who that is?” Then he pointed to himself.

One White House official said Kushner understands more than Miller the sort of deal that could pass muster with Congress and public opinion. But, this person added, Kushner may not find much enthusiasm for such a plan from Trump or Miller.

Senior adviser Jared Kushner listens as President Trump and others speak during a meeting with inner-city pastors in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Aug. 1. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Some critics of the administration’s immigration policies fault both of the advisers, painting a portrait of a villain (Miller) and a naif (Kushner). 

“If the White House were a Star Wars set, Miller would play the role of Darth Vader,” said Kevin Appleby, a longtime immigrant advocate. “His main goal is to keep Trump on the immigration dark side.”

But, Appleby added, “for Kushner to think he can come in and negotiate an immigration deal — which Congress has failed to do for 20 years — without Miller’s support is politically naive, at best. He would not get out of the starting gate.” 

Miller has told White House aides that many in the government are opposed to Trump’s immigration agenda, that few can be trusted and that DHS needed major changes at the top, officials said. He also has begun assessing officials at specific agencies to decide whether he thinks they are loyal to the president, these officials added.

On a policy level, Miller is pushing for new asylum rules that would give fewer people the chance to come into the country by citing “credible fear”; seeking to cut down the number of countries from which migrants can seek asylum; and pressing for ways to speed up deportations.

While Miller’s broad purview is as a speechwriter and senior adviser, aides say he focuses almost exclusively on immigration. 

Miller’s relationship with Kushner improved after the departure in 2017 of Trump’s former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon. Officials said Miller made clear to Kushner that — unlike Bannon — he was not interested in trying to undermine the president’s son-in-law, who is firmly entrenched in the White House.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan listen to President Trump during a visit to a section of border fencing in Calexico, Calif., on April 5. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Kushner, for his part, has defended Miller in private conversations, saying he may have strong ideas but is “misunderstood” and unfairly caricatured, several people familiar with Kushner’s comments said. 

Kushner is aiming for a broader immigration deal and is focused on border security and a merit-based legal immigration system, one White House official said. Many who refuse to work with Miller — Mexican officials and congressional Democrats, for instance — view Kushner as a more reasonable conduit to the administration. 

In recent months, Kushner has been meeting with senators to pitch a possible plan on legal immigration, border security and interior enforcement, two White House officials said. Since the shutdown, Kushner has also held roughly 50 listening sessions, largely with conservative groups, to better understand what sort of immigration deal they could support, one of the officials said.

But Miller has at times been an impediment to Kushner’s ambitions. While Kushner has encouraged the president to make bigger deals with Democrats, Miller has worked with conservative House Freedom Caucus members to scuttle such compromises, in part by working around legislative affairs staffers, White House and legislative aides said.

Former and current senior Republican aides who have interacted with Miller said he would often contradict what they had heard from DHS officials, particularly on visas and asylum rules. The aides said they never hear from Miller on any issue other than immigration, while Kushner has met with them about trade, criminal justice and health care.

 Kushner, who worked with Democrats such as Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois on bipartisan criminal justice legislation, believes he can do the same on immigration. Miller, by contrast, has frustrated Democrats with his abrasive positions and rhetoric.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) watches as senior adviser Jared Kushner speaks with his father-in-law, President Trump, during a signing ceremony for criminal-justice reform legislation in the White House on Dec. 21. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Last year, for instance, Miller began chatting with Democratic Sens. Doug Jones (Ala.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) in the West Wing lobby and told the centrists that if they worked to limit immigrants, the black unemployment rate would go down in Alabama, according to one person familiar with his comments. Both senators found the comments jarring and off-putting, this person said. 

During the 35-day government shutdown, Kushner worked to strike a compromise to reopen the government, at one point floating an option that would have included permanent protection for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children — colloquially known as dreamers — in exchange for $25 billion in border funding. Domingo Garcia, the president of LULAC, a Latino advocacy organization, met with Kushner at the time and said he seemed “sincere.”

But Kushner’s attempts to negotiate an end to the shutdown ended in failure, and some Trump aides said he tends to ignore that experience and talk only about his success on the criminal justice law. 

Mark Krikorian, an immigration restrictionist and executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said Kushner “felt he was able to pull off prison reform by bringing left and right together. He hoped he could replicate that.”

For now, Trump has sided firmly with Miller — focused on pursing what he views as a tough immigration approach that will both solve the border crisis and excite the core supporters he needs to carry him to victory in 2020.

Trump allies, however, say they think Kushner believes he has the ability to persuade the president to give real consideration to a bipartisan immigration deal if one emerges, rather than be outmaneuvered by Miller and other hard-liners. 

“Look, Kushner is the son-in-law,” Krikorian said. “If push comes to shove, I’d bet on Jared. But it may never get to that.”

Nick Miroff contributed to this report.

Thousands flee Tripoli homes as battle rages on outskirts

Ahmed Elumami-APRIL 10, 2019 

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Eastern-based forces battled troops loyal to the Tripoli government in the outskirts of Libya’s capital on Wednesday as thousands of residents fled the fighting.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar held positions in the suburbs about 11 km (7 miles) south of the city centre. Steel shipping containers, sand barriers and pickups with mounted machine-guns blocked their way into the capital.

Residents reported LNA planes buzzing Tripoli as anti-aircraft guns fired at them. On the ground, Haftar’s forces were fighting forces aligned with Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj at the former international airport and in the district of Ain Zara, witnesses said.

A Reuters reporter in downtown Tripoli could hear gunfire and explosions, which continued into late afternoon.

The United Nations said at least 4,500 Tripoli residents had been displaced, most moving away from homes in conflict areas to safer districts. Many more were trapped, it said.

The LNA forces moved out of their stronghold in eastern Libya to take the sparsely-populated but oil-rich south earlier this year, before heading a week ago towards Tripoli, where the internationally-recognised government sits.

Libya has been divided and anarchic since the 2011 toppling of strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled for more than four decades before falling in a Western-backed popular uprising.

Since then, political and armed factions have vied for power and control of the North African country’s oil wealth. After a battle for Tripoli in 2014, the country split into rival eastern and western administrations linked to shifting military alliances.

Members of Libyan internationally recognised pro-government forces ride in military vehicles on the outskirts of Tripoli, Libya April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

U.N. EFFORTS

The United Nations, which wants to bring both sides together to plan an election and a way out of the chaos, has appealed for a ceasefire.

The U.N. Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said there was still time for a ceasefire “to avoid the worst, which would be a dramatic, bloody battle for Tripoli.”

“We have a very dangerous situation and it is clear that we absolutely need to stop it,” Guterres told reporters after the meeting. Summarizing the council discussion, German U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, the current president of the 15-member body, said others echoed Guterres’ call for a ceasefire.

As the fighting rumbled on, U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame met Serraj and the head of a Tripoli-based assembly opposed to Haftar to discuss the situation, his office said.

Haftar’s forces published on Facebook a video purporting to show their seizure of a government base in the Aziziya district of southern Tripoli. The images, which could not be verified, showed a vehicle on fire and soldiers firing in the air, shouting “Allahu Akbar!”, or “God is greatest” in Arabic.

The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said it was extremely concerned about the “disproportionate and indiscriminate use” of explosive weapons in densely-populated areas.

Half a million children were at risk, it estimated.

As well as the humanitarian consequences, renewed conflict in Libya threatens to disrupt oil supplies, increase migration across the Mediterranean to Europe, scupper the U.N. peace plan, and encourage Islamist militants to exploit the chaos.

Islamic State killed three people in a remote desert town under LNA control two days ago.

Slideshow (9 Images)

In Tripoli, nearly 50 people have died, mainly combatants but also some civilians including two doctors, according to latest U.N. casualty estimates.

Several thousand migrants, detained after trying to use Libya as a staging point for crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, have also been caught up in the crisis.

REFUGEES IN DANGER

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday it had relocated more than 150 of them - among several thousand in total - from one detention centre in south Tripoli to a facility of its own in a safe zone.

One official at that detention centre said he had flung open the doors on Wednesday and released another 150 migrants for their own safety due to the proximity of clashes.

The United Nations, United States and European Union have appealed for a ceasefire, a return to the U.N. peace plan, and a halt to Haftar’s push.

Instead, Haftar was moving men and equipment from southern and eastern Libya to a forward base at Gharyan, south of Tripoli, according to a foreign diplomatic source observing the deployments.

Opponents have cast Haftar as a would-be dictator in the mould of Gaddafi, though he projects himself as a champion against extremism, striving to restore order.

Haftar was among the officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969, but fell out with him during a war with Chad in the 1980s. He was taken prisoner by the Chadians, rescued by the CIA and lived for about 20 years in Virginia before returning in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising against Gaddafi.

Despite the conflict’s flare-up, normal life was just about continuing in Tripoli, a city of roughly 1.2 million people, though residents said prices were rising and businesses closing earlier than usual.
“I don’t care who wins or loses, I just want to survive with my family,” said a teacher in Tripoli who hoped to get out.

Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis in Cairo, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and David Alexander in Washington; writing by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Mark Heinrich, Kevin Liffey, Frances Kerry and G Crosse