The Algemeiner | by Shiryn Ghermezian | SEPTEMBER 7, 2020
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.”
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