Facebook Reinstates Fatah’s Terror-Promoting Page
A mere three days after its removal, Facebook has reopened the terror-promoting page of Fatah, the movement that dominates the Palestinian Authority. Facebook did so “without removing any of the terror promoting material that is regularly posted on the page,” according to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit organization that monitors Arab media.
Shortly after Facebook decided to close down the page, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Information accused Facebook of “targeting…Palestinian national platforms on social media” and displaying a “blind bias in favor of the occupation.” More conspiratorially, the PA—making use of long-standing antisemitic tropes of Jews controlling the media—claimed that Facebook had “an agreement” with the Jewish state.
However, according to PMW, Fatah’s Facebook page frequently posts material celebrating anti-Jewish violence and terrorism. On April 20, 2016, for example, Fatah’s student movement posted a video entitled “Martyrdom-seeking unites us,” which depicted three young Palestinians planning and carrying out an attack on Israeli soldiers with knives and vehicle-ramming.
CAMERA has frequently highlighted how Facebook has been used to promote Palestinian terrorism and antisemitism (see, for example “German Authorities Investigate Facebook for Allowing Holocaust Denial,” Nov. 9, 2016).
Facebook’s rules forbid bullying, harassment and threatening language. However, the social media organization has been criticized for failing to remove antisemitic posts and apologia and propaganda from terrorist groups. In one January 2014 example that CAMERA documented, an image posted on Facebook celebrated Nazi violence against civilians; perversely using Nike’s swoosh logan and slogan “Just Do It.” Initially, Facebook refused to remove the image, stating that it didn’t violate “community standards.” Eventually, the organization reversed course, removing the post and banning the user (“Facebook Admits the Obvious,” Jan. 9, 2014).
Facebook has also been used by Palestinian terrorist groups to organize and plot attacks against Israelis, as CAMERA noted in an Aug. 17, 2016 article (“Israel Busts Terror Cells Sponsored by Hezbollah, Recruited via Facebook”).
Facebook did not provide a reason for its decision to reinstate Fatah’s page.
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