No Hate Speech on Facebook, Unless it's Against the Jews of Course!
In December 2015, the NGO Shurat Hadin - Israel Law Center, started an experiment on Facebook to see if the social Network giant was indeed guilty of double standards when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians. They decided to create two similar Facebook pages called "Stop Israel" and "Stop Palestinians" and started posting similar articles, visuals and statements on each site. For instance, the anti-Israel page had a post that read “The Zionist bites Palestine part after part and the world is silent. We’ll stop them any way we can”, while the anti-Palestinian site posted “Greater land Israel should return soon from the hands of the Muslim enemy back to Jewish sovereignty! We’ll do it in any way we can.” More posts purposely filled with hatred and incitement against both sides and from both pages continued to flow. The verbiage was almost similar on all posts except for the obvious targeting of one side by the other. They actually documented the process in a two-minutes film where they show how Facebook shut down the anti-Palestinian page while the anti-Israel page continued to run. The NGO Shurat Hadin filed a law suit against Facebook and both side are awaiting a date for a court hearing.
This is not the first time that Facebook chooses to take sides. I have reported several pages over the last five years only to get the same answer from Facebook staff. That very answer was given to the Israel Law Center, justifying the taking down of the anti-Palestinian page because "We reviewed the page you reported for containing credible threat of violence and found it violates our community standards." The very same day, the page inciting against Jews received a message from Facebook staff saying that " it was not in violation of Facebook rules." Wait a minute, I thought that violence and hatred against anybody was to be reprimanded. The Facebook "Community Standards" that were violated on one page were IDENTICAL to those violated on the other page except of course for the fact that one targeted group was the Jewish people and Israel.
The sad truth about this experiment is that the vast majority of people won't react because they are used to see Jewish people being harassed, abused and even physically hurt. There seems to be a sense of resignation, if not acceptance when Israel and/or the Jews get hurt, while there is an immediate display of outrage when Palestinians are targeted. Forget the fact that Palestinians and their leadership are almost always the instigators and Israelis the victims. Let us simply seek equality in the censorship of xenophobic websites and social network pages or accounts.
Consider Facebook pages such as Images from Palestine, Image and Reality of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict or Jewish Ritual Murder. They are replete with antisemitic rhetoric in pictures, videos and words, yet they are not taken down because they are "not in violation of Facebook rules." Seriously?
Recently, Mark Zuckerberg –a self-proclaimed atheist from Jewish parents–declared his unequivocal support for Muslims worldwide in response to Donald Trump's statement about closing US borders to all Muslims. He was quoted coming to the defense of Muslims after the November 2015 Paris attacks “As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities. Even if an attack isn’t against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone.” So I wonder if Mr.Zuckerberg forgot or ignored his recent statement that all of us should "stand up against attacks on all communities?" Maybe he doesn't even know about the double standards applied to Jews and Palestinians on Facebook, although by now he has got to be aware of it all.
Taken straight from Facebook's "Community Standards" we can read their simple statement under: Encouraging Respectful Behavior: Hate Speech "Facebook removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on Race, Ethnicity, National origin, Religious affiliation, Sexual orientation, Sex, gender, or gender identity, or Serious disabilities or diseases. Organizations and people dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups are not allowed a presence on Facebook."
Then please explain why the anti-Israel page with virulent antisemitic statements was never removed? Regardless of where the double standard comes from, Facebook must be held accountable. The Israeli law suit might correct the recent wrong but it will not stop the next one and those thereafter.
I have used Facebook for years as a platform to share my thoughts, comments and articles. I value that platform because of its global reach. It has become such a part of our daily routine and social communication that it would be hard to refrain from using it. On the other hand, if you feel that there is a double standard in the treatment of Jews and Palestinians on the Social Network giant, speak up!
You can file complaints on Facebook's Help Center and you don't have to be Jewish, Muslim or anything else for that matter. You just have to be a proponent of truth, justice, fairness and accountability for all mankind. If we don't say anything, we have no right to complain when Israelis are getting stabbed to death on the streets of Israel or French Jews machine gunned in a Kosher supermarket or any other xenophobic acts take place.
Very well done.
Any follower of Christ shouldn't be on facebook anyways. A persons facebook page is all about them-what they had for lunch; where they visited; etc. Has a marriage or relationship of any kind ever been helped by facebook? Of course not. When was the last time a guy said, "Good thing I have that facebook account!"? Never. Facebook destroys marriages and relationships. Hopefully your article gets followers of Christ off facebook for good. And while they are at, log-off entirely once in a while too. It's good for the mind and spirit.
Your views regarding what followers of Christ should or shouldn't do regarding Facebook and its purpose for existence seems seriously limited. Your answer to your own question about anybody benefitting in any relationship using it, again, seems off-topic. Speak for yourself, please. Or, at least reply to Olivier's posts about their content.
O.K. I will be more clear. It doesn't surprise me that facebook is against Jews as it is an interactive site based on worldly pleasures and desires. And based on at least O's blog, you should delete your account and I challenge all followers of Christ to do so. Let me be more clear again. Since we now know that facebook is against Jews, if you don't delete your account and stay off of the site then it is clear where you stand as well!
All I said about FB is that it would be hard to not use that powerful tool, but we should at least file reports to them when we see hateful pages. FB in and of itself isn't evil if used properly and with moderation. Guns don't kill people, people do. Forks and knives don't fatten people, people do. Facebook isn't evil, people are. It is a personal choice. Hopes this helps!
The Lord is coming again and His position from where will be in Israel With The Remnant of Israel and His faithful from other Nations who has acceptd Him as Lord of their life.
The Lord is coming again and His position from where will be in Israel With The Remnant of Israel and His faithful from other Nations who has acceptd Him as Lord of their life.
Gary Nelson: Your ignorance on the matter accentuates your arrogance, and I for one will continue to use Facebook until they close me down for my Biblical and PRO Jewish stance.
I don't agree. I believe it helps me keep more in touch with loved ones who are spread out across the nation. It is also a forum for exchanging political, religious, and other important ideas. The 1st Amendment is ESSENTIAL to democracy so that we don't vote in ignorance (which the majority of us really do). Facebook and other social media is a wonderful vehicle for that. Zuckerberg is a reprobate and his organization reflects his values which is replete with double standards and closed mindedness as are liberals in general. BTW Pretend Correctness is a form of self censorship and is suicide to a democracy.
O,
I disagree with you. Any entity, website, person, organization, or business that is anti-Jew is evil. Therefore based on your article facebook is itself evil. The reason why facebook itself is evil is because the people running the site are evil (evil meaning anti-Jew). You are right, people kill people and people make themselves fat-not the gun or fork. But at the same time PEOPLE run facebook and those people are anti-Jew which makes facebook itself anti-Jew and evil. With that said, Christians and Jews everywhere should delete their accounts until new, non anti-Jew people start to run the site.
Anti Jew = Evil
People who run facebook are anti Jew therefore they = Evil
Facebook = Evil
*Not all Facebook users are anti-Jew/Evil however they should take a stand and delete their accounts based on what the company stands for.
Anti Jew = Evil
People who run Iran are anti Jew therefore they = Evil
Iran = Evil
*Not all Iranians are anti-Jew/Evil however those Iranians should take a stance based on what they believe vs. what their country stands for.
Anti Jew = Evil
People who are running the U.S.A. are showing signs of anti Jew therefore they = Evil
U.S.A. = transforming into Evil
*Not all Americans are anti-Jew/Evil however those Americans should take a stand based on what they believe vs. what their country is becoming.
And if deleting your facebook account is too much of a stance for you then I question your personal loyalty to God's chosen people. You cannot state that facebook is anti-Jew, claim loyalty towards the Jewish people, and keep your account for any reason.
I agree to an extent. I think the irrational hatred of Jews is a satanic influence since no one seems to know why they hate Jews with any specificity, just that they do. It is no different than Haman and Hitler. Raw hate with no foundation and completely closed minded about it.
I support Israel and the Jewish community unless it costs me anything. And if it costs me my facebook page, no way! That's crazy talk!
If you believe Olivier is a man of God and God has a hand in his ministry then how could you say this article was not inspired by God? Of course it was! And since it was inspired by God then how could you maintain your facebook account?
I have often wondered what SPECIFIC historical reasons there are to hate Jews. Over the years, I've asked self justified Jew Haters why they hate Jews. The common answers are that they think they are better than everyone else or that they keep to themselves, or they are money lovers. But press them for a specific example and they recite something that happened to someone else (rumor). Pressed for something that ever happened to them personally and they can't come up with a single episode. But that doesn't give them a new prospective at all. I conclude that Jew hatred is an irrational outgrowth of the belief that the Jews crucified Jesus. But it was also Jews (orthodox) who followed him, supported him, and delivered his message to the Gentiles. It was orthodox Jews that took him down off the cross. But more importantly, it was not the Jews that crucified him. It was Jesus who ALLOWED himself to be crucified. He didn't need to let that happen but he followed God's plan for our sake. We have a gift if we but choose to accept it. Its that easy.