Italy | An Israeli received a cancellation notice from the hotel: “You are committing war crimes”

In recent months, there has been increasing evidence of Israelis who want to go on vacation in Europe and receive a message from the hotel shortly before departure or arrival in the destination country that they are not welcome just because they are Israelis. “I received a message that they do not host Israelis because we are ‘committing war crimes against humanity’ and that they are canceling the reservation,” said this morning (Sunday) Igor Babichenko, an Israeli whose reservation to a hotel in Brussels was canceled by a hotel employee. “It didn’t surprise me, social networks are flooded with similar messages against Israelis, we are a minority. It’s unpleasant but not surprising either.”

Immediately after the surprising announcement, Babchenko wrote a post on Facebook and managed to reach senior officials in the Jewish community in Belgium and senior officials associated with the hostel. “It’s in the Belgian media on many websites. I was contacted by the hotel and said it was the initiative of an employee who had already been fired. They offered me to come for free. It’s a hostel subsidized by the state, not a private organization.”

Did you talk to the employee?
“No, she wrote the message. I answered her that I wasn’t going to cancel on my own since you wouldn’t contact me until the next message, which was from someone senior at the hostel directly.”

So they claimed she did it on her own.
“They apologized and it sounds yes on their part.”

Are you going to stay there?
“I’m undecided, they offered that I stay for free, but I’ve already booked somewhere else.”

The apology message of the hotel representatives on Facebook: “We learned that your reservation to our hostel in Brussels was refused. I investigated this matter immediately this morning. We want to make it clear that this was a personal initiative of one of our reception representatives, without our knowledge. This completely does not correspond with the instructions we passed on to our team – everyone is welcome to our hotel chain. I immediately gave instructions to fire this employee with immediate effect due to serious misconduct. I send you our apologies.”