The Journalist Support Committee rejects Israeli pressure on Facebook network and the fight against Palestinian content

The Journalist Support Committee expressed its strong condemnation of the pressures exerted by Israel on Facebook in its fight against Palestinian content.

The Committee stressed in a statement that the Israeli security system exerted pressure on the management of Facebook, which deleted about 85% of the Palestinian content after the killing of Ahmed Jarrar by the occupation army in the city of Jenin on 6 February 2018.

The Journalist Support Committee affirmed that the Israeli prosecution met with Facebook administration and demanded the removal of materials posted on the network containing 12,000 Palestinian cases, Facebook quickly answered by removing 85% of those materials.

"We will continue to ask the Facebook administration to respond to our demands to remove the incitement materials," said Uri Maklev, head of the Science and Technology Committee and member of the Knesset.

The Journalist Support Committee stated that MK Uri Meklev asked the Facebook network to do what was necessary to prevent the publication of photographs of Ahmed Jarrar and the profile of a number of Palestinian Facebook users.

The committee called on the Facebook administration not to succumb to the Israeli pressures exerted by some ministers and Knesset members in its fight against the Palestinian content.

The Committee stressed that there is daily incitement by Israeli figures and some ministers on their pages on Facebook, amounting to order to kill Palestinians as well as racist threats whilst no measures were taken by Facebook administration.

The committee called on the Palestinian government and the official Palestinian institution to pay great importance to this serious issue, especially that there is a clear policy by Facebook and its succumb to Israeli blackmail and pressure in its fight against Palestinian content.

Journalist Support Committee - Palestine
12 March 2018