Texas Bans UT-Austin From Using Airbnb Over Israel Questions

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Staff members at the University of Texas at Austin, including graduate students, were notified on Tuesday they can no longer use state money to stay in Airbnb-listing lodging after Texas blacklisted the company for what it perceives to be its economic boycott against Israel.

An Israel boycott — anathema to GOP lawmakers expressing full-throated support for the nation — runs counter to House Bill 89, a law passed in 2017 barring state agencies from contracting with companies implementing the political statement. Republican lawmakers championed the legislation against Israel, even as the country has come under fire from some camps for its treatment of Palestinians.

The Texas Tribune and other media outlets reported that UT-Austin was notified its staff could no longer use Airbnb in their travels. The decree comes after Airbnb announced in November it would remove 200 listings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as the Tribune reported. The company considered potential safety risks for hosts and guests in making the decision, concurrently questioning if “existing human suffering” and whether the listings have a “direct connection the larger dispute in the region" might contribute to unsafe lodging.

The Republican-controlled Legislature has interpreted such weighted factors as being tantamount to a boycott, an assessment Airbnb vigorously disputes. Airbnb officials added they do not support the BDS movement, a Palestinian-led movement to boycott Israel.

Yet the notion of an Airbnb boycott of Israel gained traction after Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin called the lodging network's move as “...the most wretched of wretched capitulations to the boycott efforts,” according to Reuters. The ban of Airbnb use at UT-Austin — a public university deriving state funding and thus forcibly compliant to state decrees (see also "open carry") — was, therefore, something of a fait acomplis.

"Any future reservations will need to be cancelled and reservations will need to be made with another lodging establishment," read an email one UT department sent to students that was obtained by the Tribune.

UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves issued a statement in response to the Airbnb ban that was sympathetic to the government's move: "The state of Texas prohibits agencies from doing business with companies that boycott Israel, as designated by the comptroller. The University of Texas at Austin follows that law. Economic boycotts that target Israel unfairly single out one nation and shut down the free exchange of ideas that we value at UT.":

But the boycott is sure to present economic and logistical challenges to some UT-Austin staff. The Texas Tribune interviewed sociology graduate student Amanda Bosky, who said she uses Airbnb to save money during her university-sponsored travel. She typically gets just $600 to $800 to cover all costs — not just for lodging — in attending conferences. Her small stipends cover the cost not just for lodging but airfare but dining costs she has avoided by being able to stay at Airbnb homes.

“As grad students, we do use Airbnb a lot for attending conferences because we don’t have a lot of money. Because the hotels are so expensive, we usually use Airbnb,” Bosky told the Tribune. "I feel like this affects the grad students more than anyone else because we’re the ones who have to stretch our money when we attend conferences.”

>>> Read the full story at Texas Tribune