A hotel in the Japanese city of Kyoto would have canceled the reservation of an Israeli tourist due to “war crimes”, drawing criticism from local authorities who said he violated regulations.
The tourist received a Whatsapp Message by an employee informing her that her reservation scheduled for June had been canceled because of her conflict in Gazareports the Israeli embassy in Tokyo.
According to CNN, the message allegedly said: “We regret to inform you that due to the war crimes committed by members of the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) in the conflict taking place in Gaza between Israel and Palestine, we are unable to accept bookings from individuals who we believe may have links to the Israeli army.”
The traveler who received the WhatsApp messages made an initial complaint to the Israeli embassy in Tokyo. The person was able to rebook at a different hotel in Kyoto and continued the trip as planned.
The embassy accused the hotel of “clear case of discrimination” when news of the alleged incident went viral last week.
Reprimand at the hotel
The hotel was also heavily reprimanded by the Kyoto city government, which accused it of violating Japan’s Hotel Business Law, which regulates the hotel industry.
“Our position is to provide reliable, safe and high-quality accommodation for citizens and travelers, and we will react strongly to situations inconsistent with this, such as this one,” a Kyoto municipal government spokesperson told CNN, adding that a representative from the city personally visited the hotel to inform it of the legal violation.
The embassy sent formal letter of termination to the Japanese government.
Source: CNN