The online travel booking company Expedia updated its website last week to correctly identify Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport as...
A screenshot from Expedia showing the location of Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport listed as “Near Israeli Settlement, Palestinian Territories.” Photo: Twitter/StandWithUs.
The online travel booking company Expedia updated its website last week to correctly identify Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport as being located in Israel after a mistake on the site resulted in the company being accused of “anti-Israel propaganda.”
A screenshot shared on Twitter by the Jewish organization StandWithUs on Sept. 2 showed that when the first three letters of “Israel” were typed into the search bar on Expedia’s website, the results include Tel Aviv — meaning Ben-Gurion International Airport, the city’s only airport. However the airport’s location is listed as “Near Israeli Settlement, Palestinian Territories,” not Israel.
StandWithUs claimed that the inaccuracy promoted “anti-Israel propaganda,” while StandWithUs CEO and co-founder Roz Rothstein wrote on Twitter, “@Expedia please fix this. It was probably written and posted by a disgruntled employee using their position to post their ideology. Our members are contacting us and would like to know why this is still up.”
.@Expedia, Ben-Gurion Airport is in #Israel and near many communities in Israel. Why does the search bar on your site promote anti-Israel propaganda?
Many of your customers want to know. pic.twitter.com/NhdLV2vgsZ
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) September 2, 2020
Expedia replied to StandWithUs’ tweet the following day, saying, “Thank you for raising this issue. Expedia is committed to providing accurate information to travelers globally, and the team has updated the location information for this airport.”
