Kuwait Airways’ restriction on Israelis, already discriminatory, is repeatedly enabled by Expedia’s acquiescence to the airline's demand to cancel the tickets of passengers found to hold Israeli citizenship.

According to a letter sent to the leadership of Expedia by the Lawfare Project, a think-tank and pro-bono legal organization, Expedia has allowed Israeli passengers to purchase tickets with Kuwait Airways, and then repeatedly canceled these tickets after purchase, following the airline's instructions.

Yesterday, The Lawfare Project dispatched a letter to #Expedia Group CEO @MarkOkerstrom warning him of the potential consequences of continuing to facilitate #KuwaitAirways' policy of refusing to sell tickets to Israeli passport holders.

More here: https://t.co/hSoocI4xSP pic.twitter.com/DzS4fhxuIa

— The Lawfare Project (@LawfareProject) July 18, 2019

Additionally, the Expedia Vendor Code of Conduct explicitly states that the company will only work with those vendors and companies that “respect human rights.” Yet, in this case the clearly discriminatory policies enforced by Expedia seem to contradict that policy by subjecting Israelis to unequal treatment from an airline that does not respect their rights.

As a result of similar complaints against Kuwait Airways, the airline has already been forced to close multiple routes due to its policy breaching discrimination laws in both origin and destination countries, including a route to New York. Litigation is also pending in Germany for the same reason.

Falling in line with the BDS movement as it directly sponsors the boycott of Israel and its citizens, these clearly discriminatory policies are unacceptable, and Expedia should cease its work with Kuwait Airways until the airline reverts its stance on Israeli passengers. BDS and similar actions by nation states looking to delegitimize Israel in any form should not be allowed to continue.