Additional evidence filed against Booking.com for profiting from illegal settlements

News

16 January 2025

On 18 December 2024, SOMO, together with a consortium of civil society organisations, submitted new evidence to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in support of our original criminal complaint against Booking.com B.V. The complaint, filed on 8 November 2023, accuses the company of laundering profits from activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). With no substantive response from the Dutch authorities to date, this filing underscores how Booking.com has not only continued its operations in these settlements but has significantly expanded them. Evidence collected reveals that the number of listings in illegal settlements has risen sharply since the original complaint, particularly in East Jerusalem, where the number has risen from 13 to 39 within a year, from 9 November 2023 to 9 November 2024.

In 2024, Israel declared state ownership of at least 24,248 dunams (5994 acres) of West Bank land, marking the largest annual land seizure by Israel in the OPT ever recorded. On 25 June 2024, over 3,000 acres in the Jordan Valley were designated as state land, representing the largest single land grab in three decades. Between the filing of the original complaint and before the submission of the additional filing on December 18, 2024, Israeli authorities demolished 2,031 Palestinian-owned structures, including 149 inhabited residential buildings and 103 donor-funded structures, the highest numbers recorded since 2009. Plans for the establishment of eight new settlements in East Jerusalem with over 12,000 housing units have been advanced, reflecting an 86% increase in settlement construction approvals. These advancements are coupled with a 120% increase in home demolitions, which reports indicate constitute collective punishment against Palestinians.

In our complaint, we argue that by promoting and listing properties in illegal settlements, Booking.com directly supports the normalisation and economic sustainability of these unlawful practices. By providing financial backing to settlers and their enterprises, we believe the company is furthering the displacement of Palestinians and solidifying settlement expansion. We claim that this conduct sustains Israel’s settler-colonial regime and violations of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits population transfer into occupied territories. We have substantiated our claims thoroughly. For instance, the additional evidence builds on the July 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, which reaffirmed the illegality of Israeli settlements and underscored the responsibility of states to prevent economic activities that perpetuate them.

These violations demand urgent action. Booking.com’s response to our accusations confirms the urgency for intervention. The company has stated its intent to continue operations in the settlements unless explicitly prohibited by domestic laws, asserting: “[…] we will permit listings anywhere in the world unless legally prohibited by the domestic laws […].” Failure to act risks sending a dangerous signal that profiting from and laundering the proceeds of war crimes will be tolerated, undermining international legal standards and justice for affected communities. Decisive action is long overdue.