When Airbnb, the online lodging service, announced in November that it would ban Israeli listings in the disputed West Bank, hardcore anti-Israel groups took an undeserved victory lap. Surprisingly, though, the credit belongs to Human Rights Watch, a nongovernmental organization with seemingly no reason to enter into the circus of anti-Israel activism.

With ground support from a big tent of vitriolic groups, it was HRW that pressured Airbnb into boycotting Israel. It was HRW that published “Bed and Breakfast on Stolen Land,” a report documenting alleged human rights violations associated with renting Jewish properties in the West Bank. To avoid bad press, Airbnb yanked its Jewish-owned listings one day before the report dropped.