Meta deletes Al Jazeera presenter’s profile after show criticising Israel

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to Technology@lemmy.world – 736 points –
Meta deletes Al Jazeera presenter’s profile after show criticising Israel
aljazeera.com
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"Al Jazeera Arabic presenter Tamer Almisshal has had his Facebook profile deleted by Meta 24 hours after the programme Tip of the Iceberg aired an investigation into Meta’s censorship of Palestinian content titled The Locked Space.

The programme’s investigation, which aired on Friday, included admissions by Eric Barbing, former head of Israel’s cybersecurity apparatus, about his organisation’s effort to track Palestinian content according to criteria that included “liking” a photo of a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces."

Deplatforming journalists, or anyone, is a terrible thing to do.

The jokes people made on Twitter saying "I'm probably gonna be put on a list for retweeting this/liking this" was actual reality on FB?!

That is a current problem with Twitter as well:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/08/twitter-saudi-arabia-human-rights-abuses

Saudi authorities illegally requesting data from Twitter / flipping twitter employees to figure out who is posting opposing views. Some of which lead to arrests, torture, imprisonment, and death sentences.

Jared Kushner gave the Saudi's top secret intelligence information on SA dissidents in exchange for 2 billion....and then MBS had them all trapped in his Hotel to be interrogated, tortured, and likely killed. And now Trumps not even in power anymore and Elon gave them essentially the same thing Jared did. He should have stuck to ripping people off on PayPal, gd it.

It's reality on Twitter too. Their are whole industries tracking people and their ideologies and tying that to their identities. You just haven't pissed off the right group yet so you haven't found out which list you're on

Equating Israel to Judaism is such a stupid fucking idea.

I'm really, really tired of immediately denouncing Israel half the time people find out I'm Jewish. I'm not a fucking Israeli.

The Israeli government is really happy to rope you and all other Jewish people outside of Israel along though. And too many unfortunately play that role happily.

And too many unfortunately play that role happily.

See? This is what I mean. If I just announced that I was Jewish to someone like you, you'd make me justify it by denouncing Israel. I shouldn't have to do that. It should not be assumed that just because I'm a Jew, I support Israel. Frankly, that's a form of racism.

They're saying you should blame Israel for that, not random people trying to find out who's who

Why not blame both? Why should they be trying to find out who's who. If you found out someone was Turkish, would you immediately ask them if they supported Erdogan? If someone was Hungarian, would you try to find out if they supported Orban?

I don't know if you're an American, but how would you like it if, every time you met a non-American, you would have to announce that you don't support Trump because they're trying to "find out who's who?"

how would you like it if, every time you met a non-American, you would have to announce that you don’t support Trump because they’re trying to “find out who’s who?”

This is already the case.

Isn't that how it works anyway?

Person A: "I am a [whatever]"

Person B: "What do you think of [some thing about "whatever" I've recently seen on TV, and is possibly the only thing I know about it]?"

Yeah, except in the case of Jews, it's "prove you're not a Zionist." So many times in my life. So many times. I have to prove I'm not a bad person because of something I can't control and was born as.

This might be very idiosyncratic to how you engage with people or with whom. I've lived in the deep Midwest and in an east coast major city. My name is EXTREMELY jewish. I have literally never had to explain my position on Israel or zionism when introducing myself. If Israel comes up in conversation in one way or another? Sure, people have asked what my opinion is, as a Jewish person, on Israel or such and such events, but that's pretty reasonable and I don't think ever frontloaded with anything.

What can I tell you, other than to avoid the kind of people who take something about you, and turn it into an attack. Also don't bring up the topic yourself unless you want to defend it, and —however hard it is— try to "not attribute to malice, that which is simple ignorance".

There are also some rhetoric tricks you can use to return an attack, but you risk being perceived as a troublemaker.

The Israeli government doesn't even represent all Israelis, let alone all Jews. Does represent the vast majority unfortunately

I dont mean you personally, but organizations that claim to represent the jewish people in various countries. For instance the American Jewish Committee that claims Jews critisizing Israel would be antisemites and tries to have the UN comittees dissolved that adress the human rights situation in Palestine. Or a bit larger but slightly more moderate the World Jewish Congress, that wants "to enhance solidarity among Jewish communities throughout the world and, recognizing the centrality of the State of Israel to contemporary Jewish identity, to strengthen the bonds of Jewish communities and Jews in the Diaspora with Israel"

These organizations claim to represent Jewish people around the world and that they would be in favor of Israel and support Israel, especially in face of criticism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Jewish_Committee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Jewish_Congress

Sure, and white supremacists claim to represent all white people. They don't and no one should assume that just because you're white, you're a white supremacist.

Which i never did. You cannot deny the reality, that many Jewish people and organizations want to tie all Jewish people to Israel. It is the predominant view in the larger organizations, that are often recognized as spokespeople for the Jewish community in the respective country, continent or world.

I also find it wrong, that Israel is claiming to be representative of the Jewish people as a whole and having a lot of organized support for it. The voices to the contrary need to organize and make themselves heard.

And because of that, it's justified for people to constantly expect me to prove I have no allegiance to Israel? Bullshit. I should not have to prove I don't support apartheid just because I'm Jewish.

You shouldn't HAVE to, in a perfect world. Unfortunately, the ones who are making it not a reality are the Jewish organizations

So it's the Jews fault that all Jews have to justify to non-Jews that we're not bad people? That's what you're really going with?

Bro everyone has been repeating this over and over:

No! It’s Israel’s fault.

Why are YOU blaming others for what Israel is doing to Jewish identity?

So non-Jews are not at fault at all for being bigoted? It's all the fault of Israeli Jews? There's no bigotry involved at all? That's what you're saying?

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Did you miss the other commentors explaining why that's the case? I personally don't do that, but I can understand why others do. As usual, blame the politicians

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The issue is that both antiseminites and Zionists do want Jewish to mean Israeli. Same with being Israeli doesn't mean your Jewish or a Zionist

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Nah, it a brilliant idea if you want to deflect criticism of Israel's right-wing government. What's stupid is believing it.

Oh, from that perspective is genius. But any moron that buys into it should be ridiculed

Same thing with equating abortions to baby murder. Great branding, horrible belief.

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Oof. I just want to say as a Jew that is constantly trying to dispel the myth of Jewish media conspiracies, Zuck really isn't doing us any favors here.

And not all Jewish people support Israel! I have to assume many understand what's going on and side with Palestine.

What does "side with Palestine" mean? I side with the innocent people unjustly targeted in both Israel and Palestine, Israel has tolerated completely unjust treatment of Palestinians as well as done it as a state. But, groups like HAMAS also fire missiles at innocent civilians. Not to mention the many nations that have tried to unprovoked invade Israel. I'm not saying the Israeli government is innocent, it's not, but it's more complicated than just "siding with Palestine" being the right answer.

the many nations that have tried to unprovoked invade Israel

If we go far back in the history of the land... that list goes all the way to the paleolithic, and includes Israel itself. Some call it the "promised land", "holy land", and stuff like that, but in practice it looks more like the "cursed land".

If we go less far back, you'll find the point where the Roman's conquered the lands, kicked out all the Jews and renamed it to Palestina to spite them.

"Syria Palaestina", for extra spite.

If we go back, Israelites were going around offering cities to either join them or be exterminated... if we go forward, Crusaders gave no option to anyone... and so on.

It's a really bad patch of land, now with too many large religions trying to claim it, some even hoping for the Apocalypse to start there ASAP. Then you add the water shortages, and global warming is only going to make those worse.

I just meant siding with the people being forced out of their homes by Israel and placed under heavy surveillance while under constant threat of attack. I can't blame them for wanting to fight back.

Yeah I agree, I side with the innocent people, not necessarily all the semi-state entities in Palestine.

I can't blame them for wanting to fight back.

With attacking innocent civilians I can.

Hamas is less "attacking innocent civilians" and more doesn't know where civilians will be since they are a poor and oppressed retaliation force. And the Iron Dome is pretty much impenetrable because Israel shoots anything down in their airspace.

There is a very important difference between aiming generally at the oppressive force which includes civilians who continue to replace Palestinians who've lived there for their whole lives and targeting civilians, children included. Palestine does the former, Israel does the latter.

Look, I don't actually think I'm going to convince you of anything, but I hope it gives you pause at least.

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I've been to Jewish gatherings where they had duplicates of some food products because half of them insisted on eating an Israeli brand and half of them refused to.

Yes, I'm one of them. But again, that's not the audience I'm worried about. I'm not worried about what the mainstream thinks of Jews, or Jews think of Jews, I am worried about the feedback loop between far right influencers who promote conspiracy theories and the disaffected media consumers that they radicalize into violence. This kind of behavior is fuel for a very dangerous cycle.

And not all the people that support Israel are Jewish nor are being paid by Jews to do so. Many understand that Hamas is a fascist regime and simply don't like fascism.

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He's and asshole regardless of his lineage, not because of it. Just so you know someone else out here has a little grounding in reality.

Thanks, though unfortunately it's not people like yourself (who understand such things) that worry me.

i still wait for the day when i can criticize the state of israel and some of it's policies without getting branded as an antisemite.

And those of us Jews who don't support the state of Israel can't wait for the day we stop getting tied to it just because we're Jews. So there's problems both ways.

I'm also waiting on the day where Israel isn't marked for extermination by multiple countries/terrorist organizations.

You can. I do. As a Jew and as someone who has family living in Jerusalem who all hate Bibi and what he stands for. Fuck Bibi and fuck the Knesset. And fuck Zuck too.

If you're talking about Lemmy users, I think that day is already here. If you're talking about far right Zionists and ultraorthodox Jewish supremacists, then never. Between these two ends is where you find the mainstream gatekeepers of information like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, the Sulzburger family (who own the NYTimes), Jeffrey Bezos (who owns the Washington Post), etc.

I think the democratization of information is probably the most important step towards creating space to speak openly about human rights abuses anywhere, regardless of how powerful the people responsible are.

Well, not so much a conspiracy, but Israel is employing social media propaganda, similiar to the infamous russian "troll factories". It was often very well noticeable on reddit, as sometimes two different accounts posted the exact same comment with pro Israeli talking points. Their main target is facebook and other large plattforms though.

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As a guy wholly descended from the peoples of the British Isles, I have a similar feeling, only in my case, it really is true that my people have trashed the world for their personal benefit.

Granted that the Irish side of my family was never entirely on board.

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Meta are acting as an international agency curtailing journal8sm as it suits them. Using Meta "logic", they'd need to do the same for the Ukranian reporters, which we also would never condone.

Can people actually criticise Israel and get away with it? Hasn't been the case for the past decade or even more. This is hardly news.

I’ve found that you definitely can outside of the US. Growing up in Australia I was always taught the ‘both sides’ argument regarding Israel/Palestine, and I’ve literally never met a person who didn’t support a two-state solution. A Jewish family I grew up with were notoriously anti-Israel, specifically because Israel has given them bad names by committing atrocities in response to other atrocities. You might find a few right wing nutjobs that refuse to allow criticism of Israel, but generally they’re the ones that are ostracised by the majority.

Jewish families in America are anti-Israel too, but the US has the crazy Christians that need Israel for the second coming of Christ. So yeah, can't be critical of Israel in America because an old folk lore might come true.

This is pretty much it. My Jewish friends, with one exception who worked for the DOD, all draw a line between the Israeli gov and the people. I also think a lot of the high level blind support is because Israel is essentially America's "aircraft carrier" in the region and a valuable source of intelligence.

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This saga won't be over till Boomers are out political post on both sides. Boomer generation are known not to negotiate on any issue, even of it benefits them

Even so, Al Jazeera is a notoriously unreliable and manipulative news outlet directly controlled by the Qatari state and partially responsible for much of the current disarray that the Arabian peninsula and North Africa are experiencing since over a decade by now. They're spewing out Qatari propaganda around the clock

Al Jazeera, especially the Arabic version, are well known to constantly spew lies about Israel.

I mean, it is literally Qatari state media, but I don't think that's really relevant to this specific issue.

However, this sounds more, or equally, about the journalist being removed for his coverage of Meta and their shady relationships with governments, specifically Israel in this instance.

Meta is a private company and can do whatever it wants. Nothing to see here. Yea..go ahead down vote me

I forgot no action can be criticized unless it's literally illegal. Silly me.

They probably can, but it's still immoral and unethical.

Yea right! Thats how for profit companies work.

And that’s why we regulate our capitalism.. Free market does not work, well it does, but only for the rich 🤑

I mean, yeah, and people can express dislike for their policy

This is true, and the reason people need to stop using social media as their source for news.

When a company has sophisticated algorithms ment to only show you things that will get you engaged - you are not getting unbiased news. Add Meta's personal agendas on top of that and you get the shitshow that is facebook as a news source.

Thank you and hope the idiots down voting me can use common sense.

I'm going to write something bad about you that can legally be disputed, refuted, or might not be verifiable right away. Please host me & that content at your expense. Thank you bye!

-Sincerely Biggest Brained Boy

It can, but that doesnt mean ít's excused from criticism if it does something incredibly stupid and amoral.

Maybe people are finally starting to realize (although way too late) that handing over our "public" fora to private companies was a bad idea.

good

Why is that good?

al jazeera is a wholy qatari owned propoganda mouthpiece for ismalic jihadis

... yea lol what?

Al Jazeera is Qatari, and so I don't go to them for content about Qatar in case there's a bias. However it's a pretty large organization and they do decent investigative work on stuff happening in South America, Africa, & Asia. New organizations pick topics they think the readers want to see, and so in Canada (and likely the US) there's usually little to no coverage on stuff in these parts of the world. Al Jazeera puts out decent investigative pieces and documentaries about these places.

TLDR: Al Jazeera isn't unbiased, and I avoid them on certain topics. However I DO go to them for other stuff. It's definitely not a "mouthpiece for ismalic jihadis [sic]"

What happened in this article is a bad thing:

had his Facebook profile deleted by Meta 24 hours after the programme Tip of the Iceberg aired an investigation into Meta’s censorship of Palestinian content

al jazeera is a wholy qatari owned propoganda mouthpiece for ismalic jihadis

If that's such a problem, why'd they wait until this particular piece to deplatform and even then only the presenter's profile?

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