Christian Urrutia, Airbnb’s West Bank listings
Christian Urrutia has made Gaza and opposition to AIPAC defining issues of his campaign for Congress. Before entering the race, he spent nearly seven years at Airbnb while the company continued allowing listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Candidates who ask voters to judge others on questions of human rights and international law should expect their own professional records to receive the same scrutiny.
A 2025 Guardian investigation documented hundreds of Airbnb listings in Israeli settlements. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International argue that such business activity helps sustain settlements widely regarded as illegal under international law. Airbnb has responded that it donates profits from West Bank listings to humanitarian organizations while continuing to allow the listings. Urrutia’s public campaign biography describes his final Airbnb role as Director of Anti-Discrimination, Privacy & Human Rights.
Urrutia may or may not have personally supported Airbnb’s policies. But this raises a reasonable question that only he can answer: How does he reconcile his campaign’s emphasis on Palestinian human rights with his years at Airbnb after those listings were publicly documented?
Campaigns are built on promises about the future. Elections should also be about accountability for the past. A candidate’s professional record deserves at least as much attention as campaign rhetoric. That standard should apply to every candidate, regardless of ideology.