The confab put on by real estate site Yad2, a subsidiary of publishing giant Axel Springer, includes numerous companies doing business in the West Bank.
Yad2, the largest classifieds site in Israel and a subsidiary of German publishing giant Axel Springer, is hosting a real estate fair in Tel Aviv this weekend. The proceedings, which got underway Friday, were slated to showcase Israeli real estate firms, including both those that list properties within Israel’s internationally recognized borders and those that offer listings for Jewish-only settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The website for the Yad2 fair features a host of Israeli real estate firms doing business in the West Bank, including Tanya Israel, currently marketing 32 housing units in Efrat; Ram Aderet, which is advertising a construction project in Ariel; and Oron, with its “expansion project” of 40 villas in Eshkolot.
Also being promoted by Yad2 for its involvement in the fair is the firm Harey Zahav, which was recently at the center of two international controversies linked to Israel’s war in Gaza. Harey Zahav operated a large booth at Yad2’s confab, complete with exposed wood rafters that resembled a real house under construction.
Critics have accused Harey Zahav of stoking some of the genocidal sentiments that landed Israel in the Hague’s International Court of Justice. In October, the firm shared an image on Instagram depicting a tank, alongside a quote from the Book of Deuteronomy: “Your God will deliver them up to you, throwing them into utter panic until they are wiped out” — from a chapter of Scripture widely interpreted to be God calling for the genocide of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the Holy Land.
Harey Zahav also recently caused international uproar for publishing an ad, titled “A House on the Beach is not a Dream,” that photoshopped transparent housing units into a picture of war-ravaged homes in Gaza. “We at Harey Zahav are working to prepare the ground for a return to Gush Katif,” the ad said, referring to a cluster of settlements in southern Gaza dismantled during Israel’s evacuation in 2005. Another ad from the company listed “presale prices” on a map of lots in Gaza.
After widespread condemnation of the ads, Harey Zahav’s CEO Zeev Epshtein told Haaretz that the company’s ads were “a sort of satirical idea.” He did not offer any remarks about the ad with the genocidal Bible reference. (Harey Zahav did not respond to a request for comment.)
“It’s an apartheid culture. Nearly everything here is accepted these days.”
Dror Etkes, an expert on settlements, said the notion of rebuilding settlements in Gaza is far from mainstream political, though, in Israel. Nonetheless, the lack of attention paid to a large company like Yad2’s willingness to host Harey Zahav and companies doing business in West Bank settlements speaks to acceptance of radical politics in Israel.
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