BREAKING: Protests across Australia have erupted.

500,000 patriots on the streets across the country demanding remigration.

Australia has woken up. pic.twitter.com/jVU2ubVcLe

— The British Patriot (@TheBritLad) August 31, 2025

 The protest in Australia is taking place against the backdrop of growing tensions over national identity and immigration in several countries. In Britain, the "fly the flag" protest recently broke out, a grassroots movement to fly British and English flags in protest of the country's record-breaking illegal immigration. At the same time, huge pro-Palestinian demonstrations have shaken both countries, with calls in some cases for support for terrorism and hatred against Israel.

In Sydney, the country's largest city, between 5,000 and 8,000 protesters gathered wrapped in Australian flags, according to Reuters estimates. The demonstration took place next to the Sydney marathon course, where 35,000 participants ran. Police deployed hundreds of officers across the city, and the event ended "without significant incident," according to a police spokesperson.

In Melbourne, the most serious clashes were recorded when thousands of anti-immigration protesters confronted a counter-protest by left-wing organizations and pro-Palestinian groups. Large police forces were deployed to separate the rival camps, and officers used pepper spray to disperse protesters, according to the Australian network ABC. In Melbourne, Thomas Sewell, a leader of the country's far right who is defined as a neo-Nazi and supports white supremacist ideas, was among the speakers who addressed the protesters.

Marie Watt, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, issued a strong condemnation of the protests. "We absolutely condemn the march for Australia," she said in an interview with Sky News. "This is not intended to increase social harmony. We do not support rallies aimed at spreading hatred and dividing our community."

The organizers of the protest claim that mass immigration "tore the social fabric that held our communities together," citing damage to local culture, a decrease in wages, traffic congestion, a housing crisis, environmental damage, a burden on infrastructure and hospitals, an increase in crime, and a loss of a sense of community.

"Our country can no longer contain more people, and the government continues to bring more and more in," Glenn Olchin, one of the protesters in Sydney, said in an interview with Reuters. "Our children cannot buy houses, people wait seven hours in hospitals, and there are not enough roads."

The largest protests against mass-immigration in Australia's history are taking place right now.

Tens of thousands are taking part in the "March for Australia" protests in:

- Sydney
- Melbourne
- Brisbane
- Perth
- Adelaide
- Canberra
- Darwin
- Townsville
- Cairns pic.twitter.com/AfzdnJHYdB

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 31, 2025

 Since the war in Gaza began, huge pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held in major cities in Australia, with some protesters carrying Taliban flags, pictures of Khamenei and Iranian nuclear scientists, and shouting chants such as "death to the IDF." These demonstrations were also attended by politicians, including a member of parliament from the Labor Party and a senator from the Green Party, who called for recognition of a Palestinian state and the imposition of sanctions on Israel.

At the same time, an unprecedented wave of antisemitism is afflicting the country, a wave that has included the burning of synagogues, attacks on Israeli restaurants by masked individuals, and other events. Australia recently revealed that Iran was behind at least some of the attacks, with agents of Iranian origin using local criminals to carry out the arsons, which led to the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador from Canberra.

The post Anti-immigration protesters clash with pro-Palestinian groups in Australia appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Over the past year and a half, attacks on Jewish institutions, including shootings, Molotov cocktail incidents, and threats against Israelis and Jews, have occurred. The council advises Israelis in Canada to exercise heightened caution, avoid displaying Jewish or Israeli symbols, and remain vigilant in public spaces.

Israeli security officials now urge all citizens in Canada or considering travel there to implement enhanced protective measures, conceal identifying Israeli or Jewish markers, and exercise heightened awareness in public settings.

Video: Anthems being sung after the march in support of Israel in Vancouver / Credit: Erez Linn

Anti-Israel organizations are expected to hold protests in Canada, particularly in Toronto and Waterloo, on Sunday, coinciding with pro-Israel events. Recent rhetoric surrounding these events has intensified, with statements suggesting intent to harm Israelis and Jews violently. The council recommends that attendees of pro-Israel events follow local security and police instructions and avoid confrontations with anti-Israel protesters.

The upgraded warning represents a significant shift in Israel's assessment of the security environment facing its citizens in Canada, a country that has traditionally been considered relatively safe for Jewish travelers and residents. Ever since the attacks of Oct. 7, Jewish residents in Canada have reported increasing hostility and threat, including harassment and calls in support of the Hamas massacre, leading some to counter with their own protests in defense of Israel.

The post Officials: Israelis in Canada under threat appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Taliban has begun employing female spies to enforce harsh new restrictions on women's behavior in Afghanistan, according to reporting by The Telegraph. These informants are tasked with monitoring social media and patrolling public spaces to catch women violating the regime's strict rules.

"They are needed to handle other women," said an official from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV), the state agency in charge of implementing Islamic law. The ministry has hired women to monitor Instagram pages and report instances where women post pictures with uncovered faces. "You know how Instagram works ... they can hide their pages so no one can see them, but we have women who are our eyes."

Some women are coerced into this role, while others are paid for their work, which also includes accompanying male Taliban members on street patrols. "Some women were arrested and released only on the condition that they inform the ministry of any illegal activity they observe from the women they follow," the official explained.

"Just as education for girls is banned, questioning it is also banned" —Taliban Minister of Education.

Afghanistan is ruled by sharia law under Taliban!
pic.twitter.com/Z5VxD45HoL

— Azat (@AzatAlsalim) September 1, 2024

 One such informant, identified as Golnesa, spends her days monitoring and reporting on her fellow Afghan women. The 36-year-old patrols the city looking for those who do not adhere to the rules of chastity and visits locations to find women violating the dress code.

"I go to busy supermarkets and women's clothing shops," Golnesa told The Telegraph. When she spots a woman with an uncovered face, visible ankles, or laughing with shopkeepers, she contacts male officers who arrive with rifles. "It's their job to handle the situation with these women, and many of them are taken to police stations," she said. Golnesa defends her role, stating, "I don't support women who protest in the streets and claim to represent all women. They don't represent me or many other Muslim women who are tired of seeing indecency."

Afghanistan's breakdancer Manijeh Talash, who hopes to return to her homeland and live in freedom, tearfully urged Afghan girls not to surrender to Taliban tyranny. Her brave #FreeAfghanWomen message on her cape cost her the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/aF06ZkQmx3

— Habib Khan (@HabibKhanT) September 2, 2024

 However, Dr. Zahra Haqparast, a former protester now based in Germany, condemns the practice. "We always knew that the Taliban would eventually use women against other women," she told The Telegraph. "There were girls who infiltrated our WhatsApp groups posing as activists, and they assisted the Taliban in arresting many of the protesters."

Dr. Haqparast, who lost her job as a dentist when the Taliban returned to power, was herself arrested due to information provided by a female informant. She criticizes women who work for the Taliban, saying, "We protested and sacrificed everything for our fellow women. Yet, some women do everything they can to harm others of the same gender. I can only tell them, shame on you."

The post Taliban employs female spies to rat on dissidents appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Afghan women are uploading videos of themselves singing in defiance of new restrictions imposed by the Taliban that order them to be silent in public, reports The Telegraph. Women from both inside Afghanistan and abroad have joined the movement.

The online protest campaign challenges the Taliban's recently announced vice and virtue laws. On Wednesday, the Taliban issued restrictions requiring women to conceal their faces, bodies, and voices outside the home. Women are prohibited from singing or reciting the Koran in public, and their clothing must not be thin, tight, or short. They have also been ordered not to speak loudly inside their homes in case their voices are heard outside.

Afghan women are boldly countering Taliban's New Draconian law by singing out louder than ever !#MyVoiceIsNotForbiden #UntiedAgainstGenderApartheid pic.twitter.com/50g6qvXkHx

— Nilofar Ayoubi (@NilofarAyoubi) August 27, 2024

 In one video, a woman in Afghanistan sings with her face and body fully covered. "You placed the stamp of silence on my mouth until further notice," she says. "You will [not] provide me with bread and food until further notice. You've imprisoned me inside the house for the crime of being a woman."

The lyrics appear to reference restrictions the Taliban imposed on the basic rights and freedoms of women and girls shortly after seizing back control of the country three years ago. Among the rules was a ban on school attendance and higher education, which they said would last "until further notice."

Free Afghan Women

A woman from inside Afghanistan shared a video, she singing her voice in poetry:

"You have silenced my voice until further notice. You have imprisoned me in my home for the crime of being a woman."#WomenRights #Afghanistan #Freedom #UN pic.twitter.com/1BuXg3x46R

— Jahanzeb Wesa (@JahanzebWesa) August 27, 2024

 Another clip features a woman who left Afghanistan for Germany after the Taliban's return to power. She sings about the role of women in shaping history: "If I don't exist, who are you? Where are the true men among you? Without Ameneh and Rudabeh, where would Mohammad, Rostam, and Sohrab be?" The song references the mothers of the Prophet of Islam and famous male figures from Persian literature.

Volker Turk, the United Nations human rights chief, called on the Taliban to immediately repeal the "egregious" laws, which he said were attempting to turn women into shadows. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN's Afghanistan mission, described the restrictions as providing a "distressing vision" for Afghanistan's future.

In response to global outrage against the laws, Taliban minister for vice and virtue, Khaled Hanafi, claimed on Tuesday that the international community lacked the authority to comment on Afghanistan. He emphasized that the Taliban would engage with other nations only within the framework of "Islamic laws."

Dr. Zahra Haqparast, a Germany-based women's activist who started a campaign against the new laws, said they were "the final bullet to the forehead of Afghan women." She added, "I started the campaign, and soon many more protesting girls joined. The Taliban should face sanctions. The world must not negotiate with them."

Haqparast, who lost her job as a dentist in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, said, "Our voices are so loud, they're making them deaf. I want to sing a female revolutionary song so that my voice will deafen the ears of the terrorists. I want women to unite and raise their voices for their rights."

Women inside Afghanistan said the online protest was part of efforts to claim their right to be heard and to preserve their cultural identity amid the escalating restrictions on their freedoms. A former university lecturer in western Herat said, "The Taliban cannot silence our voices; we are half of this society, and they cannot even imagine how powerful we are."

The post Afghan women defy Taliban with singing protest appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson addressed this week the controversy in Israel over the judicial reform, saying the protests showed that the country was "a rootless structure that will be toppled by the wind."

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

"A new identity crisis has emerged in the spider's web. Of course, this is only one of the deep crises in Israel," Nasser Kanaani said in what is the first reference by an Iranian official on the subject. 

The protests were covered by the Tasnim news agency on Wednesday morning, although have so far received little coverage in the Iranian media as outlets have mostly been preoccupied with the schoolgirl poisoning scandal and the negotiations with Saudi Arabia. 

There is a deepening of the political and social discord within the Zionist society, the report said, to a level of internal tension and conflict that is reflected in the demonstrations of hundreds of thousands. 

"This is not a normal situation," Tasnim wrote. 

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post In first reference to protests, Iran says Israel 'will be toppled by the wind' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday against a contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary as the government pressed ahead with the plan.The nationwide demonstrations have been a regular weekly event for more than two months.

Video: Reuters

Despite the demonstrations, Netanyahu and his allies have pledged to press ahead with a series of bills that would strip the Supreme Court of its ability to review legislation and give coalition politicians control over judicial appointments.

Critics say the changes will destroy the country's system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of the prime minister and his allies.

"We are protesting because if not, it's like compliance and we will never agree to have democracy abolished in this country," said Einat Gival-Levi, a protester. "It's really important that we raise awareness all around the world."

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Hundreds of Israeli women's rights activists dressed as characters in the television series, "The Handmaid's Tale," marched to the center of Tel Aviv city to join the main protest.

The uproar over the legal changes plans by Benjamin Netanyahu's government has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. Beyond the protests, which have drawn tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets and recently became violent, opposition has surged from across society, with business leaders and legal officials speaking out against what they say will be the ruinous effects of the plan.

While being called a 'day of resistance' and National Security Minister @itamarbengvir promising fines for protesters who disrupt public order, @P_Klochendler says protests have been peaceful, with demonstrators even chanting 'We love the police' pic.twitter.com/m3tHbWHUQo

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) March 9, 2023

On Thursday, Netanyahu had to be airlifted to the country's main international airport for an overseas trip after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there.

The rift has not spared Israel's military, which is seeing unprecedented opposition from within its own ranks.

Critics also say Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, is driven by personal grievances and that he could find an escape route from the charges through the overhaul. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and says the legal changes have nothing to do with his trial.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israelis protest proposed legal changes for 10th week appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Protests in Iran raged on streets into Thursday with demonstrators remembering a bloody crackdown in the country's southeast, even as the nation's intelligence minister and army chief renewed threats against local dissent and the broader world.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The protests in Iran, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country's morality police, have grown into one of the largest sustained challenges to the nation's theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At least 328 people have been killed and 14,825 others arrested in the unrest, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that's been monitoring the protests over their 54 days. Iran's government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures while state media counterfactually claims security forces have killed no one.

As demonstrators now return to the streets to mark 40th-day remembrances for those slain earlier – commemorations common in Iran and the wider Middle East – the protests may turn into cyclical confrontations between an increasingly disillusioned public and security forces that turn to greater violence to suppress them.

Online videos emerging from Iran, despite government efforts to suppress the internet, appeared to show demonstrations in Tehran, the capital, as well as cities elsewhere in the country. Near Isfahan, video showed clouds of tear gas. Shouts of "Death to the Dictator" could be heard – a common chant in the protests targeting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It wasn't immediately clear if there were injuries or arrests in this round of protests, though Iran's state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the demonstrations near Isfahan. They commemorated the Sept. 30 crackdown in Zahedan, a city in Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchestan province, in which activists say security forces killed nearly 100 people in the deadliest violence to strike amid the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have kept up their threats against the demonstrators and the wider world. In an interview with Khamenei's personal website, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib renewed threats against Saudi Arabia, a nation along with Britain, Israel and the U.S. that officials have blamed for fomenting unrest that appears focused on local grievances.

Khatib warned that Iran's "strategic patience" could run out.

"Throwing stones at powerful Iran by countries sitting in glass houses has no meaning other than crossing the borders of rationality into the darkness of stupidity," Khatib said. "Undoubtedly, if the will of the Islamic Republic of Iran is given to reciprocate and punish these countries, the glass palaces will collapse and these countries will not see stability."

Iran blames Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national, for stirring up protesters. The broadcaster in recent days said the Metropolitan Police warned that two of its British-Iranian journalists faced threats from Iran that "represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families."

Last week, U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia shared intelligence with America that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom. Iran later called the claim "baseless," though the threats from Tehran continue.

The commander of the ground forces of Iran's regular army, Brig. Gen. Kiumars Heydari, separately issued his own threat against the protesters, whom he called "flies."

"If these flies are not dealt with today as the revolutionary society expects, it is the will of the supreme leader of the revolution," he reportedly said. "But the day he issues an order to deal with them, they will definitely have no place in the country."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Iran protests rage on streets as officials renew threats appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

According to a poll by the Ratings Sociological Group published Sunday, 70% of Ukrainians believe that their military will win against Russian forces.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The poll asked 2,000 Ukrainians over the age of 18, except those in the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions and in Crimea, and found that 91% support the actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Of those asked, 16% were unsure of the victory and 15% remained neutral.

Among those expressing belief that Ukraine would win, 47% said they were absolutely sure of a military victory and 23% they were only "rather" confident.

"The level of faith in our own armed forces has increased significantly over the past week. There is no predominance of pessimistic sentiments in any region," said the group that conducted the poll.

Areas maintaining the highest level of confidence in Ukraine's military are in the west and the center, with 75-78%, whereas it is slightly lower in the south and the east at between 64-66%.

Only 6% of those asked did not support the Ukrainian president's actions and 3% could not answer.

"Across Ukraine, pessimistic sentiment is low and the level of faith in Ukraine's armed forces has grown significantly," The Kyiv Independent reported, noting that Zelenskyy's approval rating is three times what it was in December 2021.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Most Ukrainians confident in victory against Russia, poll shows appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The most powerful men in Lebanese politics have been in charge for decades, some since the early 1970s. They've survived civil war, assassinations, uprisings, and other turmoil, hanging on to power for decades in a turbulent, unforgiving region.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Now, they're in a desperate fight to cling to positions and wealth as Lebanon takes hit after hit, grappling with one of the world's worst economic meltdowns in decades and the aftermath of an explosion that ripped through the capital a year ago, killing more than 215 people.

The gunbattles that raged for hours on the streets of Beirut this week were the latest manifestation of the willingness by members of the country's ruling class to fight for political survival at any cost.

Unhappy with where the investigation into last year's port explosion is going, they have closed ranks to make sure they are untouched by the fallout.

On Thursday, the militant Hezbollah group and the Amal Movement organized a protest demanding the removal of the judge leading the probe. Armed, they marched into predominantly Christian neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital, some shouting "Shiite, Shiite!"

Hezbollah and Amal, two Shiite parties that fought pitched battles against each other in the '80s but are now close allies, accused the Lebanese Forces – a Christian party that had a powerful militia during the 1975-90 civil war – of opening fire first. The Lebanese Forces denied it, blaming the violence on Hezbollah's incitement of its supporters against Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the port investigation.

The two sides clashed for hours, demonstrating to the nation once again that the Lebanese must choose: justice and accountability, or civil peace.

For many, it exemplified why Lebanon is trapped in today's quagmire.

"They instigate the people against one another, then they sit at a table together to make deals," said Hanan Raad, whose sister-in-law was killed in Thursday's fighting. A mother of five, Mariam Farhat was shot by a sniper bullet as she sat near the balcony of her second-floor apartment, her family said Friday.

The probe into the port explosion is at the heart of the current tensions – as is Lebanon's culture of impunity, one in which the judiciary has never gone after those in power, despite widespread corruption and crimes.

That is until the August 2020 explosion at Beirut's port drew international attention to the massive corruption and negligence behind it. Within a few days of the explosion, it emerged from documents that several senior politicians and security chiefs knew of the hundreds of tons of highly combustible ammonium nitrate stored haphazardly in a port warehouse and did nothing about it.

Entrenched politicians who lock horns and bicker over just about everything else, closed ranks to undermine the investigation.

Rival politicians, including former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and several religious figures launched a campaign to discredit Bitar, accusing him of bias.

When the judge began summoning officials, they used parliamentary immunity and various legal challenges to avoid having to show up for questioning.

Defiantly, the 46-year-old judge issued arrest warrants, including for former ministers of finance and public works, both Amal members and close Hezbollah allies.

Now Thursday's street clashes have further thrown into doubt both the future of the investigation and whether Bitar can continue leading it.

"We are dealing with a new equation: either Tarek Bitar leaves, or the country will be ruined," said Youssef Diab, a political analyst. "We are in front of this new and dangerous equation."

The establishment parties have collectively worked to block any serious opposition and attempts at reform that might harm them, observers say. They have hampered a forensic audit of the country's central bank, a key demand of the international community to restore confidence in the crisis-struck Mideast nation, protecting the bank's longtime governor even as he faces corruption charges in Switzerland and France and accusations of gross mismanagement at home.

Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system has proved impossible to bring down. Protests have been quashed. Warlords have cast themselves as their sect's protectors, granting favors to their followers.

A revolt against the status quo would mean breaking up the sectarian patronage network, cultivated by the ruling elite and one that many in the divided population benefit from. Many Lebanese politicians have a large – even blind – following. They are quick to blame other factions for the country's myriad problems and eagerly stoke fears among their supporters that another sect could gain power over them.

Hundreds of thousands thronged streets in Beirut and across Lebanon in late 2019 in some of the largest protests the country has seen. For a few months, the demonstrations unified an often divided public in revolt against entrenched leaders who have brought the economy to the brink of bankruptcy.

The protests were met with violence, arrests, and intimidation, and eventually fizzled out.

Some are banking that elections next spring will bring a degree of change. But the opposition has no viable political program or candidates who can challenge the political elite. And as the economic crisis has thrown three-quarters of the population into poverty, vote-buying will be much cheaper.

With pent-up anger among many Lebanese, growing sectarian tensions, and a political class desperate to cling to its privileged role, a descent into further violence becomes even more possible.

Michael Young, a senior editor at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, says there could be serious consequences if Hezbollah and Amal manage to derail the port investigation.

"The sudden escalation in violence could provoke new developments in Lebanon that lead to a cancellation of elections, and take the country into a much darker period than the one that exists today," Young wrote Friday in Diwan, Carnegie's Mideast blog.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Latest Beirut street battles portend even darker times to come appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Likud MK Galit Distel-Atbaryan, who says Facebook targeted her for her right-wing views, has introduced a bill to give citizens recourse should they find themselves out of favor with social networks.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"The Social Networks Bill," in its explanatory section, says that while online networks like Facebook want to prevent undesirable phenomena such as radicalization and violence, "it seems that the removal of content and the blocking of users is done arbitrarily, without the users being given the opportunity to understand the reason for the blocking, and without the actual possibility of appealing it."

The bill requires social networks to clearly state their policies for removing content and blocking users by providing "an available response in the Hebrew language for the investigation of complaints" and to provide a way for users to query about removal policies.

The bill also clarifies when users can seek damages in court, permitting "litigation against the social networks operating in Israel under Israeli law, in order to prevent the situation of a legal vacuum in which damages are created without redress."

The proposed law is identical to one introduced by former Likud MK Amit Halevi in November 2020. Distal-Atbaryan decided to resubmit it.

"It's a very important law because what we see now is, on the one hand, privatization of the vehicles of speech, and on the other hand, monopolization of the vehicles of speech," Jerusalem-based attorney Itzhak Bam told JNS. Bam has built a reputation in Israel as an authority on free-speech issues, having represented many free speech cases in court.

Some argue social media networks are private companies and should be allowed to block whom they want, said Bam. However, he explained social media is an oligopoly, with a few companies, like Facebook and Twitter, controlling most of the market.

"If you have two or three major players that provide the playground and those players virtually control your ability to exercise your freedom of speech, and all the discussion of public issues is now happening on social media, blocking speakers on social media affects the democratic process," he said.

"If you had 1,000 different companies competing against each other, you have no justification for the government to step in. But when it's an oligopoly that rules the social-media market and the market affects civil rights, there should be a possibility for citizens, for a private person, to sue them if they silence him," said Bam.

Whether or not social media is specifically targeting those with right-wing views isn't possible to know for certain, he said, because only the companies have that information.  The information "is in the hands of Facebook and Facebook will never release it."

Distal-Atbaryan is certain that only one side of the discourse is in social media's crosshairs. At a June 21 Knesset meeting she organized for Israeli citizens, public figures and fellow Knesset members, she described how she had been warned by Facebook a week earlier that she had violated its "community standards" in a post two weeks beforehand. Her account was temporarily restricted.

JNS reached out to Facebook for comment, but the company didn't reply.

The post that led to the warning was a call in early June to protest at the home of Yamina MK Nir Orbach to convince him to vote against the Bennett-Lapid government. The post included Orbach's home address, which Distal-Atbaryan was informed was what led to the warning.

"What's surprising in this story is that both Left and Right protested in front of the home of Nir Orbach. The posts that advertised the Left's protest were not blocked. The posts that advertised the Right's protest were blocked," she said. "Here's an incident in which it's possible to see it in an almost mathematical way, almost scientific – the same content, blocked on the Right, continuing to run on the Left. This is no longer speculation. … This is real."

Avi Abelow, CEO of Israelunwired.com and Pulseofisrael.com, said that he favored any law that would make social media companies liable for their censorship. On July 1, he told JNS that everyone associated with his business had their personal accounts disabled. "I never received any explanation why we were all terminated. It wasn't like a notice of 'you're in Facebook jail' or 'this post violates this' – nothing. It's just 'you're suspended and you have 30 days to appeal. For what? No reason."

On July 7, he informed JNS that his account and those of his staff had been reinstated. Again, he says, "no reason."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Knesset atwitter over social media censorship appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.