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REDFLAG.ORG.AU PUBLICATION OF SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE 14 JUNE 2021 | REDFLAG

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court’s decision in April as further encourage- its silencing of Palestinians. In 2016, the Ministry
ment to adopt a more aggressive role in censoring At a conference in the West Bank city of Ramal-
online content. Eghbariah said that the UK, France lah in 2018, local representatives for Google and
and the European Union already had their own Facebook conceded that the companies’ priority of Justice reported
cyber referral units, although unlike Israel’s those was to avoid upsetting powerful governments like
units were explicitly authorised by legislation. Israel’s that could tighten regulation or constrain that Facebook and
In a sign that Israel’s politicised approach to their commercial activities. The tech giants are
crushing online dissent could become normalised also unlikely to be neutral between the claims Google were 'complying
worldwide, an architect of Israel’s cyber unit was of the Israeli state and ordinary Palestinians
appointed to Facebook’s new oversight board last when they are so reliant on Israel’s hi-tech sector. with up to 95 percent
year. Emi Palmor was the Justice Ministry’s direc- Technologies developed using the West Bank and
tor-general at the time the unit was established. Gaza as a testing-bed have been eagerly bought up of Israeli requests to
The board is supposed to oversee what content by these global corporations.
should be allowed on Facebook and Instagram. Incensed by Facebook’s censorship, a Palestin- delete content'—almost
The Israeli cyber unit’s increasing efforts ian campaign of online protests was launched in
to remove content by Palestinians, labelling it 2018 under the hashtag #FBcensorsPalestine. In all of it Palestinian.
“terrorism”, “disinformation” or “incitement”, are Gaza, demonstrators have accused the company
the latest stage in more than a decade of moves by of being “another face of occupation”.
Israel to control and manipulate its image online Google and Apple have also faced a wave of
as social media has become more central in most criticism for colluding in Israel’s policy seeking
people’s lives. to erase Palestinians’ visible presence in their
Israel stepped up its digital activities after its homeland. The tech companies have failed to
large-scale attack on Gaza in late 2008 and early identify many Palestinian villages in the West
2009, which killed large numbers of civilians, in- Bank on their online maps and GPS services while
cluding children, and shocked much of the world. highlighting illegal Jewish settlements.
During the attack, the Israeli army established They have also refused to name the Palestin-
its own YouTube channel, the first army to do so, ian territories as “Palestine”, in accordance with
offering a model that the US army quickly sought Palestine’s recognition by the United Nations,
to emulate. subordinating these areas under the title “Israel”.
At the same time, tech-savvy youngsters Jerusalem is presented as Israel’s unified and
were recruited to pose as ordinary web-surfers undisputed capital, just as Israel claims—making
as they secretly promoted foreign ministry the occupation of the Palestinian section of the
talking-points. Several “cyber warrior” teams city invisible.
were established in the following years, including
one that recruited former officers from Israel’s First published at ElectronicIntifada.net.
military spying unit 8200. Since then, Israel has Jonathan Cook is a Nazareth-based journalist
expanded its digital operations, not only promot- and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize
ing hasbara (propaganda) online but intensifying for Journalism.