Amid growing global concern over Big Tech’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the League of Human Rights (LDH) has taken a notable step. They’ve filed a criminal complaint in Paris, targeting Airbnb and Booking. The accusation? Complicity in war crimes, specifically the aggravated concealment allegedly achieved through promoting accommodations situated in illegal Israeli settlements.
Filed on a Thursday by LDH lawyer Patrick Baudouin, the suit characterizes the platforms’ listings as facilitators of “occupation tourism.” The core claim suggests that these listings enable the expansion of settlements within the Palestinian land, all while generating considerable profits.
The Questionable Listings
The United Nations has consistently affirmed the illegality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem under international law. According to the LDH complaint, by advertising rentals in areas such as Ariel and Yakir, Airbnb and Booking “allow and facilitate, directly and indirectly, the creation and extension of Israeli settlements” and, importantly, “derive colossal profits from it.”
Airbnb’s listings often omit specific details, such as the properties’ location in Palestinian territory, instead simply stating the settlement name. Booking.com, however, is somewhat more explicit, identifying accommodations in “Israeli settlements” located in “Palestine.” Both platforms also feature tourist attractions, like the Al-Aqsa Mosque (referred to as the Mosque of Omar) and the Church of the Nativity. Baudouin condemns this promotion of nearby tourist draws as complicity in “maintaining an occupation tourism” that normalizes the displacement of Palestinians, generally speaking.
The LDH maintains that these practices, “despite the warnings of United Nations bodies and various human rights associations,” constitute “an aid to the concerted Israeli plan for colonization and destruction of the Palestinian population.” Since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank, the settlements have grown substantially, now housing over 500,000 Israelis alongside a Palestinian population of three million residing outside annexed East Jerusalem.
UN Blacklist and Global Backlash
The Paris filing coincides with growing international scrutiny. On September 26th, the UN updated its database of companies linked to settlement activities, identifying over 150 businesses—including Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor—for their operations in the occupied territories. This “blacklist” highlights the contribution of tourism firms to what various rights groups describe as an “economy of occupation.”
Similarly, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, in a June 30th report, criticized major travel platforms for selling “tourism that legitimizes annexation.” Her findings, released in July 2025, went further, accusing global corporations of “profiting from genocide” in Gaza and the occupied territories. She urged sanctions and arms embargoes on Israel, calling out firms for alleged complicity in war crimes. Notably, Albanese’s work has faced U.S. sanctions threats, drawing criticism from some experts as an attack on human rights advocacy.
A February 2025 Guardian investigation provided more context. As of August 30, 2024, it identified 402 listings across the West Bank and East Jerusalem—350 on Airbnb (largely houses, apartments, and rooms, 321 to be exact) and 52 on Booking.com (mainly hotels, 26 total)—offering 760 rooms for over 2,000 visitors. Assuming a conservative 50% occupancy rate and a €150 nightly rate with 15% commissions, the LDH estimates that annual platform revenues from these properties alone exceed €3 million, in most cases.
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From Boycotts to Backpedals
Airbnb’s involvement with Israeli settlements has been complex. In November 2018, it delisted West Bank properties after pressure from groups such as Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch hailed this decision as a move against profiting from “unlawful Israeli settlements.” However, following lawsuits in Israel and the U.S. alleging anti-Semitic discrimination, the company reinstated the listings in April 2019. In addition, Airbnb pledged to donate all proceeds to global humanitarian aid—a commitment critics say has largely faded from view.
Booking.com has also faced similar scrutiny. Complaints emerged in November 2023 in the Netherlands, led by groups like SOMO and the Emile Landau Academic Legal Center (ELSC). They accused the country of, essentially, laundering profits from settlement advertisements. Prosecutors in the Netherlands are still looking into it. Then, last June, actions escalated. The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), along with Al-Haq and Sadaka Ireland, filed claims in Ireland, the UK, and even the U.S., going after Airbnb’s Irish branch for war crimes complicity, money laundering, and what they see as hiding gains from colonization.
The BDS Movement and Amnesty International have both been urging boycotts for quite some time now, arguing that these platforms are “driving settlement expansion” and also “profiting from war crimes.” Around the same time as tanks rolled into the West Bank – the first time that has happened in two decades, in the midst of rising settler violence – the Guardian newspaper cautioned that these kinds of listings help Israelis “make money from stolen Palestinian land,” thereby worsening evictions and demolitions.
Justice or Jurisdictional Joust?
Baudouin hopes to join the investigation as a civil party, which could really strengthen LDH’s position in the French legal system. Still, like in past cases, platforms may respond with arguments about free speech, or even claim the courts lack jurisdiction. Think back to Airbnb’s reversals in 2019 as a possible example. This suit comes at a time when Albanese is calling for corporations to be held responsible, describing tourism as a key aspect of what he calls Israel’s “economy of occupation turned genocide.”
For Palestinians, the stakes are incredibly high. Settlements break up their territory, making it harder to achieve statehood, and essentially deepen inequality. As Baudouin says, “War crimes are not a tourist attraction.” With the world watching the terrible situation in Gaza, this action in Paris might change things – or, perhaps, just lead to another long period of legal uncertainty. One thing is certain: the booking pages of these large companies have turned into battlegrounds in a bigger struggle for both land and historical legacy.