Facebook has briefly blocked the page of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s son, Yair after he shared previously banned content calling for “all Muslims [to] leave” Israel.
In a message posted Thursday on his Facebook page, after the latest flare-up in violence saw at least five Palestinians and three Israelis, including two soldiers, killed in recent days, Yair Netanyahu had called for the expulsion of Palestinians.
Facebook temporarily bans Yair Netanyahu for posting he 'prefers' Israel without Muslims https://t.co/ZCtBQLpLpu
— Saquib ansari (@NotsaquibA) December 17, 2018
The prime minister’s son wrote:
“Do you know where there are no attacks? In Iceland and in Japan where coincidentally there are no Muslims.”
In another post, he wrote that there were only two possible solutions for peace, either “all Jews leave [Israel] or all Muslims leave”.
“I prefer the second option,” added the 27-year-old, who has faced criticism of being a grown man living in the prime minister’s residence despite having no official role and benefitting from a bodyguard, a driver, and other perks.
"¿Saben dónde no se producen atentados? En Islandia y Japón donde por casualidad no hay musulmanes", escribió en su cuenta Yair Netanyahu https://t.co/OntoBAoXYv
— 180 (@180uy) December 17, 2018
Facebook deleted Yair Netanyahu’s posts, in which he called for “avenging the deaths” of the two Israeli soldiers.
Yair Netanyahu, who shared a screenshot of the earlier post in violation of Facebook’s community rules, took to Twitter to criticize the social networking giant, calling it a “dictatorship of thought”.
Facebook blocked his account for 24 hours.
“Yair Netanyahu said there would not be peace in the land of Israel until either all the Jews or all the Muslims leave — and he would prefer the latter.” https://t.co/DdRRESSjxl
— Usman Kayani (@noisufbackwards) December 17, 2018
Palestinian journalists and activists have long accused social media platforms such as Facebook of double standards regarding the enforcement of their policies, as well as an imbalance in how they deal with censorship in the Israeli-Palestinian context.
Last year, a damning report by The Intercept said that Facebook is deleting content and blocking users at the orders of the Israeli and the US governments.
(AJE, PC, Social Media)
