Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was set to host a special panel of European ministers on Tuesday to discuss online incitement at an international forum on anti-Semitism in Jerusalem.
The panel members, among them the justice ministers of Greece, Italy, Malta, Moldova and Slovakia, were poised to take the unprecedented step of signing a joint statement against online incitement.
The statement includes guidelines for grappling with the troubling phenomenon and an acknowledgment that the internet, and social media in particular, has aided radical elements in the dissemination of hate speech and incitement to violence and terror.
It points out that such offensive content constitutes a criminal offense, and that governments and individual internet users have a shared interest in making the internet a safe space and preventing its use to spread hate.
By signing the statement, the justice ministers agree to work together to limit the dissemination of hate speech and incitement to violence and terrorism online. The statement also calls on internet giants to take immediate steps to combat the phenomenon, including removing such content from their servers and adopting clear methods for identifying online incitement.
Shaked said that while modern technology has its benefits, it also has unintended disadvantages that must be confronted by the international community.
In this respect, Israel is "at the forefront of the global fight against online incitement," she said.
Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General Noam Katz, who was also set to participate in Tuesday's panel, said it was the government's responsibility to protect both the individual and society at large, as well as monitor social media networks by way of legal regulation.
"The best way to do this is through dialogue," he said.
Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on Monday that his country will toughen restrictions against racism and anti-Semitism on the internet and will actively contribute to the fight across Europe.
Expressing anger that illegal online broadcasts of sports matches are more quickly blocked than racist or anti-Semitic remarks, Philippe said internet hosts and social media sites should be required to remove hateful speech.
He said French President Emmanuel Macron's government plan for Europe-wide legislation would force operators to withdraw "hateful, racist or anti-Semitic content as soon as possible," in an effort to "build the legal framework of responsibility for platforms."
"Nobody could have me believe, ladies and gentlemen, that social networks are spaces outside our territory. For me, everything that is published and circulated in France is published and circulated in France, and therefore must be subject to the law of the republic," he said.
