An Israeli woman cancelled a planned stay at a bed and breakfast in Tuscany after the property sent her a message supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement upon learning that she was from Israel, The Jerusalem Post reports
The woman, who asked not to be identified, had booked two nights at B&B L’Imbrunire from 21 to 23 September as part of a trip to Italy with her parents to celebrate her 30th birthday.
She initially made the reservation through the Holidu booking platform, but later contacted the property on WhatsApp to ask whether she could pay directly. The host reportedly asked her to cancel the online booking so that a direct reservation could be arranged.
The exchange changed after the woman provided her personal details and the property discovered that she was Israeli.
“Excuse me. I see you’re Israeli. For transparency, we support the BDS (No Room for Genocide) campaign,” the property wrote.
The message went on to accuse Israel of serious violations of Palestinian rights, express solidarity with Palestinians and state that the property did not want to support Israeli government policies “in any way”.
The B&B did not explicitly tell the woman that she could not stay there. However, she said the message left her feeling that she might not be welcome or safe at the property.
“They didn’t explicitly say that I couldn’t stay there,” she said. “However, the message was very strongly worded and made me feel that I might not be welcome or safe if I did stay there. That was where the conversation ended.”
She subsequently cancelled the reservation.
The woman said she and friends later posted Google reviews drawing attention to what had happened, but that the comments were subsequently removed from the property’s listing.
Speaking about the experience, she said she had approached the B&B simply as a tourist looking forward to visiting Italy with her family and was shocked that the interaction changed once her nationality became known.
“I never imagined that in 2026 I would experience something like this in Europe,” she said.
“The moment they discovered I was Israeli, that changed. Suddenly I was being judged not for anything I had said or done, but simply for where I was born and the passport I carry.”
She argued that criticism of Israeli government policy was legitimate, but that treating an individual Israeli traveller as responsible for the actions of the state amounted to discrimination.
“As a Jewish Israeli, that is frightening and deeply painful,” she said. “Europe’s history should have taught us where the normalization of excluding people because of their identity can lead.”
The incident highlights the increasingly difficult boundary between political campaigns directed against Israel and actions affecting individual Israelis abroad. In this case, although the guest was not formally refused accommodation, she said the unsolicited political message she received solely after disclosing her Israeli nationality made her feel unable to proceed with the stay.
B&B L’Imbrunire had not responded to a request for comment by the time the original report was published.
photo credit: Babak Bordbar/AFP via Getty Images
More News
