The Senate’s censor-in-chief, who spent years howling that Facebook wasn’t censoring enough speech, is attacking Facebook for censoring speech.
Hamas speech.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren dispatched a letter whining that Facebook is suppressing “Palestinian voices.” The letter was endorsed by, among others, the Adalah Justice Project, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), Fight for the Future and MPower Change.
Taher Herzallah, the Outreach and Grassroots Organizing Director for AMP, was recently caught on video stating that Jews were the enemy.
“Anybody who has any relationship or any support or identifies himself as a Jewish person or as a Christian Zionist then we shall not be their friend, I will tell you they are enemy number one and our community needs to recognize that,” said Herzallah.
Amid genocidal pro-terror campus mobs, university presidents suddenly rediscovered their love of free speech. So did media outlets and a variety of leftist groups, including Human Rights Watch, have also joined in, claiming that Facebook is censoring the pro-terror side.
Human Rights Watch complains that Facebook prohibits “organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence [from having] a presence on Meta” and “’praise’ and ‘substantive support’ of groups or individuals from Meta’s platforms. These are vague and broad terms that can include expression that is protected under international human rights law. In its scope and application, the DOI policy effectively bans the endorsement of many major Palestinian political movements and quells the discussion of current hostilities.”
Which groups is Human Rights Watch referring to?
Facebook uses “sweeping bans on vague categories of speech, such as ‘praise’ and ‘support’ of ‘dangerous organizations,’ which it relies heavily on the United States government’s designated lists of terrorist organizations to define. The U.S. list includes political movements that have armed wings, such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The ways in which Meta enforces this policy effectively bans many posts that endorse major Palestinian political movements and quells the discussion around Israel and Palestine.”
So, Hamas.
Human Rights Watch complains that Facebook is taking down posts in support of Hamas.
Not that it comes right out and says it. Neither does Sen. Warren. Instead they dance around what they actually mean, pretending that the issue is censorship of “mere mentions of Hamas,” but eventually the truth will out. And this is the real agenda.
The good news is that the left still believes in free speech. The bad news is that the only free speech it believes in is praising Hamas.
