Europcar denies discrimination

An Israeli tourist has alleged he was refused a car rental at Melbourne Airport because of his Israeli driver’s licence, only to be served immediately by a competitor using the same document.

Noam, an Australian citizen living in Israel, was visiting Melbourne on Sunday for an Israeli real estate event when the incident occurred at the Europcar desk. The case was publicised the next day by activist group J-United.

Noam said the Europcar employee initially asked for his licence, then showed it to colleagues before requesting an international licence. He told The AJN that as the employee examined the document, he appeared to draw colleagues’ attention to the word “Israel” printed at the top.

“Then when I came in, it was a big discussion about where the licence was from,” Noam said.

The employee told Noam that Victorian regulations introduced in December required an international licence. When Noam pointed out his licence was almost entirely in English, the employee insisted he needed to “understand everything that’s written on the card”.