Palestinian activists and supporters gathered outside Facebook’s New York City headquarters on Sept. 30 to challenge the complicity of Facebook with the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Recently, Israeli officials met with representatives of Facebook and convinced them to “limit Palestinian incitement against Israel on social media.”
As the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (P.P.S.N.)indicated in a flyer,”Israel has suspended the personal profiles and organizational pages of Palestinians and their supporters around the world, even as Israeli occupation forces have detained hundreds of Palestinians for their posts on social media.”
Joe Catron, a member of P.P.S.N. present at the demonstration stated, “We want to make clear that Facebook is acting in collusion with Israeli crimes against Palestinians.” The day before there had been a protest in Gaza led by journalists and activists, which condemned this policy decision by Facebook.
Another demonstrator, Shahid, the Secretary General of the Pakistani-U.S.A. Freedom Forum said, “No society can live with censorship. Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s child-his child now has a bad name.”
Despite the rainy weather in N.Y.C., it was a lively and militant demonstration against the latest effort of a powerful corporation to side with the Israeli regime against the just aspirations of the Palestinian people. The vast majority of bystanders were sympathetic to the demands made by the protesters and some drivers honked their horns in approval, much to the delight of the wet protesters.
The protest against Israel was timely as the attention of many has shifted to U.S. efforts to create a “no-fly zone” in Syria to further the U.S./N.A.T.O. drive to overthrow the Syrian government. Perhaps, the most significant goal of the demonstration was to publicize the hashtag #FBCensorsPalestine to educate the U.S. public about a horrendous decision made by Facebook executives.
