On November 6, 2025, the association Juristes pour le Respect du Droit International (JURDI) announced, through its lawyers Ms. Hélène MASSIN-TRACHEZ (Lyon bar) and Ms. Julien BAYOU (Paris bar), that it had summoned the company Airbnb (Airbnb France, Airbnb Ireland UC, Airbnb Beyond Ltd) before the Paris judicial court.
Indeed, the Airbnb platform disseminates to the French public advertisements for the rental of hotel rooms and accommodations located in Israeli settlements established in the Palestinian Territory occupied by the State of Israel in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The illegality of these settlements is enshrined in law. Such population transfers by the occupying power into occupied territory are strictly prohibited by International Humanitarian Law and constitute a war crime. Before the UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese highlighted dozens of companies that "profit from the Israeli economy based on illegal occupation." Since 2020, the same Council has maintained a list of companies involved in commercial activities that contribute to this crime of illegal settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory.
This is the case with Airbnb, which rents out hundreds of properties in these occupied territories (approximately 350 by 2025). While Airbnb briefly announced its withdrawal from the West Bank in 2018 following the publication of a Human Rights Watch report, the company subsequently reversed its decision. Although since 2019 it has claimed to donate the profits from these rentals to charities, this admission does not alter the fact that these rentals disregard the illegality of Israel's occupation of these territories and the settlements, as well as their humanitarian consequences.
While many citizens may legitimately feel powerless in the face of the tragedy unfolding in the occupied Palestinian territory, JURDI's action offers a horizon: that of holding accountable the companies that profit from and participate in the maintenance and development of these illegal activities constituting war crimes.
This action is part of the international movement to hold companies accountable for violations of international law in occupied territories.
JURDI believes it is up to the courts to compel Airbnb to remove the listings in question from its platform in order to stop actions that constitute multiple offenses. By providing an essential service and profiting economically from an illegal system of colonization, classified as a war crime under international law, the platform is likely to be held liable for complicity in war crimes, receiving stolen goods, and laundering the proceeds of these crimes. These serious violations constitute a clear threat to public order.
This is the issue at stake in the proceedings initiated before the Paris Judicial Court, due to the headquarters of Airbnb France and the effects of the damage in France (French users).
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