An Israel-based media watchdog has launched a campaign to pressure social-media giant Facebook to shut down Fatah’s Facebook page, which the NGO says is used to promote terrorism.
A new report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) documents Fatah’s incitement on Facebook from January to June of this year. For example, on March 29, Fatah glorified 17-year-old suicide-bomber Ayyat al-Akhras, calling her “a magnificent martyrdom-seeker” for blowing herself up “in a shopping center of the Zionists,” according to the report.
The NGO contacted Facebook about the promotion of terrorism on its platform, but says the company refused to take action.
“Violence and terror are central to Fatah’s mission,” Nan Jacques Zilberdik, senior analyst at PMW and co-author of the report. “Fatah uses its official Facebook page to disseminate this to Palestinians. The Facebook platform is a central cog in Fatah’s mechanism to glorify—in real time—terrorist attacks in which Israelis are murdered, and to promote terrorists as role models for today’s Palestinians.”
According to Itamar Marcus, founder and director of PMW, the “#CloseFatahFB campaign is not about punishing Fatah, it’s about saving lives. Social media today is the primary tool used by terrorist organizations, and the most significant social-media tool being used by Fatah to promote terror and turn terrorists and murderers into role models is Facebook.”
