Facebook Removes Journalist for Posting Articles on Palestinian Corruption
January 15, 2013 14:15 by Simon Plosker
Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh is an internationally respected journalist and is a regular speaker on HonestReporting’s Missions. He is probably the bravest journalist operating in the Palestinian territories today, reporting on Palestinian affairs where others are either too intimidated or in thrall to the Palestinian Authority or Hamas to expose the ills of Palestinian society and its leadership.
The Commentator reports:
Social networking website Facebook has today been accused of attempting to silence critics of the Palestinian Authority as it cracked down on the page owned by Arab-Israeli writer Khaled Abu Toameh.
Abu Toameh, the son of an Arab Israeli father and a Palestinian mother, is a former senior reporter for the Jerusalem Post. He has reported that as of yesterday, his Facebook page had been deactivated.
The Commentator has learned that following complaints from the Palestinian Authority and Jordanian security authorities about his articles dealing with corruption, Facebook had taken the steps necessary to effectively censor his work.
In speaking this morning to us, Abu Toameh noted, “All I have done recently is share some articles which have been in the Jordanian press (in Arabic) about corruption. I am for transparency, against corruption, and yet they ban my account and continue to allow the leader of Hamas to have an account. I am not in favour of terrorism like he is. This is an attempt to silence me. To do this to a journalist is very bad.”
Facebook sent the following pro-forma e-mail to Abu Toameh yesterday evening: “You posted an item that violated our Terms of Use, and this item has been removed. Among other things, content that is hateful, threatening, or obscene is not allowed, nor is content that attacks an individual or group. Continued misuse of Facebook’s features could result in your account being disabled.”
That Facebook has effectively censored Khaled and shut down his account is an intolerable interference with freedom of speech and goes beyond Facebook’s Terms of Use.
A petition has been started (by a third party, not HonestReporting) calling on Facebook to rescind its decision and to restore Khaled Abu Toameh’s account.
UPDATE – SUCCESS
We have been informed that Khaled’s Facebook account has been restored without explanation, presumably as a result of public pressure.
Facebook Removes Journalist for Posting Articles on Palestin… « Samlade saker
3:03 pm
Jan 15, 2013
[...] Facebook Removes Journalist for Posting Articles on Palestinian Corruption Share this:TwitterFacebookGillaGillaBe the first to like this. Written by Mikael Publicerat i [...]
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David K.
4:00 pm
Jan 15, 2013
We hear from the media on what Israel does to the palestinians like it is the only story out there. Part of the palestinians’ own problems are the political conflicts within their government. Simple things like sanitation and electricity for the people are put aside, and their obsession with weapons and strict laws win out. It’s an outrage, and I’m glad we’re hearing about this. Thank you for your work!
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Lester Greenmn
4:42 pm
Jan 15, 2013
A brave intellectual. Let us hope that people read his views.
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Facebook Removes Journalist for Posting Articles on Palestinian Corruption | Two Meter Eleven
5:25 pm
Jan 15, 2013
[...] Social networking website Facebook has today been accused of attempting to silence critics of the Palestinian Authority as it cracked down on the page owned by Arab-Israeli writer Khaled Abu Toameh. Read More [...]
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Carl Maltzman
6:14 pm
Jan 15, 2013
I complained to Facebook about a page that had posted some very anti-Semitic things, including that Jews are blood suckers. Facebook’s response was that the page did not violate their terms!
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Carl Muller
6:52 pm
Jan 16, 2013
Carl, please give us the page so we all can complain!!!!!!!!!!
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Carl Maltzman
2:56 am
Jan 17, 2013
It was the Occupy Wall Street page. But to be fair, I just scrolled through a load of posts there, and none were anti-Semitic, so maybe the objectionable ones were removed, or done by a hacker.
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Russ
6:55 pm
Jan 15, 2013
Not the 1st time this has happened on Facebook.
They removed a page called “I love Israel” where the Jews and Israelis defended Israel with facts and figures whenever an Arab came onto the page to spout hate and lies but will not remove the Anti-Semitic and Anti-Zionist pages such as “I hate Israel” etc
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Facebook sperrt Journalisten wegen seiner Postings über palästinensische Korruption aus « Medien BackSpin
7:03 pm
Jan 15, 2013
[...] HonestReporting Media BackSpin, 15. Januar 2013 [...]
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Cynthia
7:09 pm
Jan 15, 2013
Hundreds of us who are fighting for Israel have reported an endless amount of viscious hate anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist speech,cursing, and out and out lies only to receive messages that FB. found that there was/is no violation. What does this tell you?
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Henry Federman
7:39 pm
Jan 15, 2013
Khaled Abu Toameh also write in the Gatestone institute where you can find his writing,I find him very interesting and without prejudice. He writes as he sees it. Shame on Facebook for taking him off.
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Beverly
11:34 pm
Jan 15, 2013
IMO, the reason FB lets the anti-semitic remarks stay, no matter how vitriolic is because they are intimidated by Muslim jihadists.
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Dafna Yee
8:38 am
Jan 16, 2013
I think Facebook’s execrable, vile actions are due to the money that the Arabs spend on advertising and other types of sponsorships!
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Jeffrey
3:41 pm
Jan 16, 2013
I refuse to join Facebook and want nothing to do with it. Everything I see written about it convinces me that I have made the right decision.
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Dafna Yee
3:49 pm
Jan 16, 2013
If you do not join Facebook and fight it from the inside (which is what was successfully done), then you are completely powerless to influence its actions!
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Wencel Lucian
8:44 pm
Jan 16, 2013
Please do not practice anti Israeli censorship. I support freedom to publish facts that expose Palestinian Arab corruption. Do not silence Abu Toameh facebook page.
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Chris Rettenmoser
12:37 am
Jan 18, 2013
I am glad NOT to be on facebook = SHITBOOK !
ANTISEMITIC BASTARDS are in charge of facebook !
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Mar
1:03 am
Jun 14, 2013
Los post me engancharon bastante mas pero no
esta mal Animo!
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