Friday, January 22, 2010

Should we petition Facebook to delete groups?

A guest post by Rabba bar bar Chana

I got a Facebook invitation today from a friend (who also reads this blog) to join a FB cause called “Call Facebook to delete all Hate groups against Israel”. While I certainly sympathize with the sentiment, isn’t such a group encouraging censorship?

If the cause called for Facebook to delete a group that espoused unambiguous anti-Semitism, I would be less conflicted. And while the cause does target a specific group, the name of the cause is very all-inclusive.

Who decides what constitutes a “hate group against Israel”? That opens up the whole question of what constitutes genuine criticism of Israel and what crosses the line. Is it an easy one like a group encouraging terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians? Or is it (as I’m sure some right-wingers I know would assert) a group that condemns the occupation and compares it apartheid?

And isn’t it likely that Israel’s opponents would then retaliate by trying to get Facebook to delete pro-Israel websites, saying that they were hate groups against Palestinians? Is this really the best direction to go in?



Search for more information about the Israel wars on Facebook at 4torah.com.

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