On 8 April 2026, ELSC, Al-Haq, SOMO, and The Rights Forum co-filed a complaint with the Dutch Court of Appeal, challenging the length of time it takes the public prosecutor to reach a decision on a criminal complaint against Booking.com that accuses the company of laundering profits from listings in illegal Israeli settlements. The coalition of civil society organisations has initiated a so-called ‘Article 12’ procedure under Dutch law, which requires the Court of Appeal to decide on the merits of the criminal complaint, and whether the prosecutor must proceed to prosecute Booking.com.
ABOUT THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
The original criminal complaint filed by the civil society organisations on 8 November 2023 accuses Booking.com of laundering revenue obtained from renting out properties in illegal Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East-Jerusalem. The settlements are established through the commission of war crimes, including Israel’s transfer of its own population into the occupied Palestinian territory. Therefore, the coalition of civil society organisations argues that Booking.com obtains profits from war crimes, which then pass through the Dutch financial system, in violation of Dutch anti-money laundering legislation.
… Al-Haq’s General Director, Shawan Jabarin, said:
“The Palestinian people are facing escalating erasure under Israel’s genocidal settler-colonial apartheid regime. At the same time, corporations not only profit from these international crimes but actively sustain illegal settlements and an unlawful occupation. With Palestinian land being illegally appropriated at an unprecedented rate, human rights violations intensifying, and settlements growing at an alarming pace, any further delay in accountability risks allowing this erasure to go unchecked. Urgent action is imperative.”
Continue reading at https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/27452.html