Kyoto's WIND VILLA: The Cost of Genocide to Traveling Israelis

Can someone who is NOW mass murdering innocent people claim immunity because they were victims once, like 100 years ago?

Kudos to WIND VILLA and the Japanese people who dared!

It seems it is OK to presecute Palestinians everywhere around the world for wanting to liberate their country from a brutal genocidal colonizer, bit it is not OK to ask the Israeli genociders themselves to sign a pledge.

Guest house in Japan asks Israeli guests about war crimes

A guesthouse in Japan has been hailed as a universal human rights defender for asking guests to declare that they have never committed war crimes. For some reason, Israel’s ambassador felt the need to defend himself. A Freudian slip?

The WIND VILLA guest house in Kyoto always requires visitors stating that they had never “been involved in any war crimes that violate humanitarian and international law”.

The Israeli ambassador Gilad Cohen seemed particulalry interested in challenging the guest house's policy because he knew that Israeli tourists would be hugely embarrassed if they had to sign the pledge. So he goes off on a rant describing the pledge signing as a “blatant act of discrimination against Israeli citizens and an unacceptable attempt to equate them with war criminals”. The villa makes ALL tourists sign the pledge, not just Israelis.

In typical arrogance and wanton Loftier-than-Thou attitude, “I call on the Kyoto City authorities to address this case swiftly,” Cohen said without addressing the barbarity of his government in its ethnic cleansing campaign in illegally-occupied Palestine.

WIND VILLA owner Ace Kishi said in an interview that he has no plans to change the policy following an investigation by Kyoto city authorities. Kishi said he began asking ALL guests, regardless of their provenance, to sign the pledge about six months ago in response to world events.

“I was really concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israeli attacks on Gaza,” Kishi said. As threats of reprisals mount against traveling Russians and Israelis, Kishi “...just wanted to take some measures for our safety, and for guest safety, as well, and to express our disagreement with war crimes and international violations.”

Most tourists had no objections to signing thye pledge, since they have a clean conscience. But those who know their government is guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing and genocide, like Russia and Israel, feel the prick when asked to sign a pledge like this.

“The last [tourist] was quite confused and upset. But eventually he signed and said he hadn’t committed any war crimes,” Kishi said.

In an account of his interaction with the Israeli tourist, Kishi described the man as an unpleasant, but still welcome, guest. “The pledge thing made us pretty awkward,” Kishi wrote. "Given the number of troops deployed in Gaza, the number of casualties there, and the number of Israeli travelers abroad, it is statistically undeniable that those who have committed war crimes are walking freely in major cities and tourist destinations in the world." — Guesthouse WIND VILLA (@WindVilla) May 1, 2025

Not wanting to lose money he invested for the trip, the Israeli tourist said, “I signed because I didn’t want to create problems, and because this form means nothing."

Following nagging complaints from Cohen and the Israeli embassy, Kyoto tourism authorities visited the guest house several times to carry out an investigation, Kishi said. But “at least the authorities, both from the city and the Japanese government, don’t think it’s a violation of the Hotel Act,” Kishi said, referring to the Japanese law governing public accommodations.

“They are just expressing their concerns and trying to convince us to change our measures. But it’s beyond their authority, so it’s very indirect.”

He also clarified in a public letter to Cohen that the pledge requires “all guests whom our guesthouse identifies as potentially having been involved in war crimes to sign the form,” including those from Israel, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Mali, Myanmar, Palestine, Russia, Syria, and Sudan.

The WIND VILLA incident follows a similar occurrence in Kyoto last year, when a local hotel refused an Israeli man accommodation over his potential ties to Israel’s actions in Gaza.