Many so-called Palestinian “lone wolf” terrorists have alluded to their actions on their personal social media before carrying out attacks. Israeli security forces make no secret of their efforts to prevent such attacks by monitoring Palestinian social media accounts.
When Israeli police were alerted to one Palestinian worker’s Facebook photo of himself next to a bulldozer with the text translated as ‘attack them’ in Hebrew or ‘hurt them’ in English, it was hardly surprising that it resulted in a swift arrest. (Also bearing in mind that bulldozers have been used on multiple occasions as terror weapons.)
A photo posted to Facebook on October 15, 2017, by a Palestinian worker that led to his mistaken arrest by Israeli police (courtesy)
Except that the translation was incorrect. Due to issues with Facebook’s own translation technology, the social media giant had mistranslated the original Arabic, which simply and innocently stated ‘good morning.’
While the incident could have been avoided had an Arabic-speaking police officer looked at the Facebook post, the Palestinian was released after a few hours. Ultimately, the error was the result of Facebook’s substandard software.
Most media focused on the story as one of technology gone awry rather than Israeli targeting of innocent Palestinians. The Daily Mail’s Mail Online, however, made a mess of its headline:
We pointed out to Mail Online that it was Facebook, as opposed to the police, that wrongly translated the Arabic. As a result, the headline has now been amended and the reference to the police removed.
Thanks to Mail Online for correcting the error.
© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
