It’s the occupation, not Facebook

THE Israeli government’s claim that Facebook has “blood on its hands” for failing to censure posts by Palestinians inciting violence against Israelis is false. The reason for the continuing Palestinian attacks against Israelis is not Facebook. The real culprit is the occupation. Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Facebook had set “a very high bar for removing inciteful content” while Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked wants social media companies to pre-emptively remove content which Israel considers to be a security threat. In its defense, Facebook asserted that it works on a regular basis with security organizations and policy makers throughout the world, including in Israel. Facebook has taken posts down that explicitly incite violence but it also depends on people to make use of its reporting tools if they come across content that they believe violates guidelines concerning violence. Israel’s claims against Facebook are another sign of the complicated role now played by social media giants in global affairs. It is not Facebook’s job to draw the line between who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter. Just as it is not Facebook’s business to differentiate between Israeli posts that support the occupation and those that entertain the killing of the people who are occupied. The Israeli government is in the process of drafting legislation that could see social networks ordered to remove certain content. But if passed, it would inevitably raise questions over freedom of speech and censorship that Facebook and other US-based social networks would be forced to deal with. Should we abolish freedom of speech for Israel’s sake? If Israel is truly serious about Facebook being an actual threat, then maybe it should just block, filter or abolish Facebook like they do in China, North Korea and Iran where they suppress and censor the free exchange of ideas on the Internet. Facebook and others show how people truly feel and what they believe. Why wouldn’t Israel want to know these things? For fear of losing control of the narrative? After all, with that much freedom of communication, the truth will come out about Israeli occupiers being the real oppressors and terrorists. If there’s anything right-wing extremist Israelis don’t like, it’s the free exchange of ideas, words and information. Apparently, any tool that allows a community to organize and stay connected is an outrage to an oppressor who is trying to simulate a maximum security prison across an entire country. This is not trying to prevent attacks but trying to deny Palestinians any chance to feel connected as a community. Sometimes, the most powerful weapon a Palestinian can have these days isn’t a stone or a gun but a smartphone and a camera, a 3G connection and a social network account. Smartphones have given the Palestinians a very powerful weapon: The truth, via a visual feed of a brutal, racist occupation and humiliation meted out to them every single day. Say what you will about Facebook and other social media — disasters, one gigantic slander machine, a misinformation library, all for people who have a lot of time on their hands. But Facebook is not the problem. The Palestinians are aggrieved by the decades of brutal Israeli military occupation, of being expelling and the stealing of their land and their nation. They are pained by the growing injustice against them, how powerless they are in their fight for a homeland. They are wounded as they see their land being systematically taken away by a settlement drive that will ensure that only a shadow of a Palestinian state will ever transpire. The problem is that of the Israeli government to solve, not to impose itself on a private business that is offering a service. Facebook is not harming Israel’s security. Israel is doing that all by itself.