Airbnb head of Global Policy and Public Affairs, Chris Lehane met Tuesday with Shomron Regional Council leader Yossi Dagan to continue discussions about the company’s ban on listings in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
“We are here to meet with a variety of stakeholders, and as a result of our meetings have an even deeper understanding that this is an incredibly complex and emotional issue,” noted a statement by Airbnb.
“I briefed the Airbnb team on tourism activities throughout the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council,” Dagan said, adding that he told the company officials during the tour that he was “happy about the dialogue they’re conducting with the Israeli government.” He also told them that he expects them to “retract the decision they made and to act in Judea and Samaria just as they operate in the rest of the State of Israel.
“I was pleased to hear they are opposed to the boycott movement,” Dagan said. “We agreed they would consider my request, and that we would continue the dialogue. We’ll continue to work for Samaria, and against BDS on all levels.”
Lehane toured Samaria by helicopter together with IDF Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch (ret.), who commanded the army’s 91st Division, according to a tweet posted by Hirsch. Lanahan also visited the Barkan Industrial Zone, considered a prime symbol of co-existence between Israelis and citizens of the Palestinian Authority.
Dagan noted that Lehane was “impressed” that the site’s factories have continued to operate in the wake of a vicious terror attack that took place this past October. A Palestinian Authority Arab murdered two Israeli employees — execution style — at the Alon recycling plant, with whom he worked on a daily basis. He shot and seriously wounded a third before fleeing the scene.