Facebook is allowing Palestinians to manage fan pages dedicated to terrorists who killed Israeli citizens, according to a review of the social media platform by National Religious Party leader Bezalel Smotrich.
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In an urgent letter to Facebook Israel CEO Adi Soffer Teeni, Smotrich said the decision to leave terrorists' pages up while permanently banning radical right-wing activists Baruch Marzel and Michael Ben-Ari raised concerns the firm was violating users' freedom of expression.
"Unfortunately, Facebook this week closed the accounts of Baruch Marzel and Michael Ben-Ari. Their conduct raises serious concerns of improper intervention in freedom of expression and the Israeli discourse space. While Mr. Marzel and Ben-Air posted completely legitimate posts, I hereby draw your attention to Facebook accounts that call for violence and have the potential to constitute actual incitement," Smotrich wrote.
The lawmaker cited six Facebook fan pages dedicated to terrorists in his letter, including one dedicated to arch-terrorist Muhammad Naifa, an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander in Tulkarm sentenced to life in prison for a series of terrorist attacks, including a 2002 attack on Kibbutz Metzer that killed five residents, two of them children. A second fan page cited by Smotrich is dedicated to Mohammad Jayyousi, one of the founders of the Brigades who received six life sentences and 55 years in prison for planning a shooting attack that killed six.
In addition, the Religious Zionist Party leader drew the Facebook chief's attention to pages belonging to terrorists that had been released from prison.
Smotrich demanded Facebook remove the accounts and "immediately end the incitement toward the murder of Jews."
He told Israel Hayom: "The terrorism and encouragement of violence against Jews under the auspices of social media must stop. Facebook appears to have completely lost its moral compass. Instead of blocking terrorists and inciters, they harass right-wing activists as part of puzzling silencing campaigns. I contacted the CEO of Facebook Israel and demanded terrorist pages be taken down. We will not accept incitement against Israeli citizens, and we will not accept harm to Israeli citizens,
Facebook has yet to respond.
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