September, 24 2020, 12:00am EDT
Thousands Call on Facebook to Stop Censoring Palestine
#FacebookCensorsPalestine reaches over 6 million people on same day that Zoom, Facebook and YouTube jointly repressed academic panel featuring Palestinians
WASHINGTON
With tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram stories, videos and live protest, thousands of people from Ramallah to San Francisco called on Facebook to stop unfairly censoring Palestinian voices and those in support of Palestinian rights. Over 23,000 people signed the petition Tell Facebook: Part ways with Emi Palmor and stop censoring Palestinians.
The coalition demanding Facebook, Stop Censoring Palestine saw the hashtags #DropEmiPalmor and #FacebookCensorsPalestine trending on Twitter, with a combined reach of over 12 million. The video Censoring Palestinians on Facebook, detailing Facebook's systemic silencing of Palestinian voices and their supporters was viewed by thousands. And an in-person protest outside of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's house demanded that Facebook's Oversight Board - due to start implementing Community Standards on Facebook and Instagram October 1st - no longer includes Emi Palmor. Emi Palmor is a former head of the Israeli Ministry of Justice who personally managed Israel's Cyber Unit that resulted in the removal of thousands of pieces of Palestinian content from Facebook. During her five-year tenure, the Cyber Unit's unlawful work "imposed severe limitations on freedom of expression and opinion, especially about Palestine."
As the global campaign Facebook, Stop Censoring Palestine was launching its digital Day of Action, Zoom, YouTube and Facebook banned SFSU's open classroom event "Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice and Resistance" featuring Palestinian academic Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi and Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khaled. Jewish Voice for Peace chapters across the country planning to livestream the event were informed that Facebook had removed the event from their pages, and that these chapter pages were now at risk of being blocked from Facebook. Ellen Brotsky, a member of JVP Bay Area chapter said: " We co-sponsored this webinar because we believe that Palestinian voices must be lifted up and heard by people in the United States, even when those voices are critical of Israel and Zionism and may cause discomfort to some. We are even more outraged that all three media platforms - Facebook, Zoom and YouTube - caved to anti-Palestinian pressure and pulled the plug on the webinar."
The censored event was held by San Francisco State University's Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora Studies program, and featured professors Rabab Abdelhadi and Tomomi Kinuwaka in conversation with academics and former political prisoners Leila Khaled, Rula Abu Dahu, Ronnie Kasrils, Sekou Odinga and Laura Whitehorn, who is also a JVP member. The JVP-Bay Area chapter was a co-sponsor of the event.
Granate Kim, Communications Director at Jewish Voice for Peace: "The appointment of Emi Palmor to Facebook's vaunted Oversight Board is just the latest example of Facebook's close ties to the Israeli government. It's well-documented that Facebook regularly agrees to requests from the Israeli government to remove posts that criticize Israel for its illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Words as simple as "resist" and "martyr" are flagged for Facebook to monitor and delete. When confronted, Facebook often back pedals. But this is not enough. Instead of fighting post-by-post and for the reinstatement of individual accounts, we demand that Facebook remove Emi Palmor."
Alison Carmel, International Relations Manager at 7amleh: "The Facebook Oversight Board should not be trusted as it is not designed to safeguard against government interference and conflicts of interest, as Facebook would like us to believe. As we can see from their bi-laws, the Oversight Board only requires members to disclose their ties to the government and foreign agents. That is why we have Emi Palmor -- someone with a long history of working on behalf of the Israeli government to censor Palestinians -- becoming a member. The Facebook Oversight Board is a power game, a way for Facebook to try and escape true international regulation and accountability, and we should not be distracted by their public relations efforts and keep shedding light on how companies are supporting their efforts."
Olivia Katbi Smith, North America coordinator for the BDS Movement: "Facebook must stop censoring advocates of Palestinian rights, including BDS advocacy. Facebook has a duty to respect the right to boycott, including boycotts aimed at ending complicity in Israel's apartheid regime over the Palestinian people, as the right to boycott falls under protected freedom of speech. The European Court of Human Rights has confirmed that calls for a boycott of Israeli products fall under the right to freedom of expression as protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. We urge Facebook to respect human rights and end their silencing of Palestinian voices, and to remove Emi Palmor from the Oversight Board."
Ines Abdel Razek, Advocacy Director at the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy: "Facebook is a window to the world for many oppressed communities - like Palestinians, Kashmiris, Rohingyas or Uighurs - to speak out for freedom, justice and dignity. Unfortunately, Facebook has a track record of silencing advocates and giving in to autocratic and repressive regimes' narratives and bullying. In Palestine, it is doing genuine harm to a people living under an apartheid regime. Facebook should do better in ensuring its algorithms, content policies and Oversight Board are not contributing to further bigotry, censorship and violations of human rights."
The campaign is organized by 7amleh, Jewish Voice for Peace, the BDS Movement for Palestinian rights, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Supporting organizations: Adalah Justice Project; Association Belgo-Palestinienne; AFPS - Association France Palestine Solidarite; AROC - Arab Resource & Organizing Center; BDS Switzerland; Canadian BDS Coalition; CODEPINK; Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign; Just Peace Advocates; MPower Change; Palestinian Youth Movement; Palastina Spricht; U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights; U.S. Palestinian Community Network
BACKGROUND
Freedom of expression and human rights advocates have already raised concerns that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram all too regularly allow white nationalists hate speech to flourish, while posts and pages defending the rights of oppressed communities - from Palestine to Kashmir to Myanmar - are continually censored. Even the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza was removed from Facebook - three times! - including during the coronavirus pandemic.
Palestinian rights groups and journalists confirmed a number of years aog that the Israeli government and a network of Israeli government-funded NGOs were systematically working to get Facebook to hide Israel's human rights violations by censoring Palestinians and supporters of Palestinian rights on their platform. During Emi Palmor's tenure, Facebook complied with 95% of the Israeli government's requests to censor Palestinians.
And a new report, Facebook Censors Palestine, determined that posts about the experiences of Palestinian people and the Israeli occupation are more actively reviewed and censored by Facebook than most content, while hate speech posts like "Death to Palestine" or "Every Muslim is a dead terrorist" were not taken down or flagged by Facebook for violating Community Standards.
Recently, Facebook announced they were convening an Oversight Board to enforce Community Standards against hate speech on Facebook and Instagram, due to start operation October 1st. But Emi Palmor was chosen to join the Oversight Board.
Can Facebook's Oversight Board really be "independent" when Emi Palmor - responsible for the removal of countless posts of Palestinians on the platform - is part of it?
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over 70 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.
(510) 465-1777LATEST NEWS
National Team Member Becomes at Least 265th Palestinian Footballer Killed by Israel in Gaza
Muhannad al-Lili's killing by Israeli airstrike came as the world mourned the death of Portugal and Liverpool star Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva in a car crash in Spain.
Jul 04, 2025
Muhannad Fadl al-Lili, captain of the Al-Maghazi Services Club and a member of Palestine's national football team, died Thursday from injuries suffered during an Israeli airstrike on his family home in the central Gaza Strip earlier this week, making him the latest of hundreds of Palestinian athletes killed since the start of Israel's genocidal onslaught.
Al-Maghazi Services Club announced al-Lili's death in a Facebook tribute offering condolences to "his family, relatives, friends, and colleagues" and asking "Allah to shower him with his mercy."
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) said that "on Monday, a drone fired a missile at Muhannad's room on the third floor of his house, which led to severe bleeding in the skull."
"During the war of extermination against our people, Muhannad tried to travel outside Gaza to catch up with his wife, who left the strip for Norway on a work mission before the outbreak of the war," the association added. "But he failed to do so, and was deprived of seeing his eldest son, who was born outside the Gaza Strip."
According to the PFA, al-Lili is at least the 265th Palestinian footballer and 585th athlete to be killed by Israeli forces since they launched their assault and siege on Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Sports journalist Leyla Hamed says 439 Palestinian footballers have been killed by Israel.
Overall, Israel's war—which is the subject of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case—has left more than 206,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, and around 2 million more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened, according to Gaza officials.
The Palestine Chronicle contrasted the worldwide press coverage of the car crash deaths of Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva with the media's relative silence following al-Lili's killing.
"Jota's death was a tragedy that touched millions," the outlet wrote. "Yet the death of Muhannad al-Lili... was met with near-total silence from global sports media."
Last week, a group of legal experts including two United Nations special rapporteurs appealed to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the world football governing body, demanding that its Governance Audit and Compliance Committee take action against the Israel Football Association for violating FIFA rules by playing matches on occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2024, the ICJ found that Israel's then-57-year occupation of Palestine—including Gaza—is an illegal form of apartheid that should be ended as soon as possible.
During their invasion and occupation of Gaza, Israeli forces have also used sporting facilities including Yarmouk Stadium for the detention of Palestinian men, women, and children—many of whom have reported torture and other abuse at the hands of their captors.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Highly Inspiring' Court Ruling Affirms Nations' Legal Duty to Combat Climate Emergency
"While the United States and some other major polluters have chosen to ignore climate science, the rest of the international community is advancing protections," said one observer.
Jul 04, 2025
In a landmark advisory opinion published Thursday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—of which the United States, the world's second-biggest carbon polluter, is not a member—affirmed the right to a stable climate and underscored nations' duty to act to protect it and address the worsening planetary emergency.
"States must refrain from any conduct that reverses, slows down, or truncates the outcome of measures necessary to protect human rights in the face of the impacts of climate change," a summary of the 234-page ruling states. "Any rollback of climate or environmental policies that affect human rights must be exceptional, duly justified based on objective criteria, and comply with standards of necessity and proportionality."
"The court also held that... states must take all necessary measures to reduce the risks arising, on the one hand, from the degradation of the global climate system and, on the other, from exposure and vulnerability to the effects of such degradation," the summary adds.
"States must refrain from any conduct that reverses, slows down, or truncates the outcome of measures necessary to protect human rights in the face of the impacts of climate change."
The case was brought before the Costa-Rica based IACtHR by Chile and Colombia, both of which "face the daily challenge of dealing with the consequences of the climate emergency, including the proliferation of droughts, floods, landslides, and fires, among others."
"These phenomena highlight the need to respond urgently and based on the principles of equity, justice, cooperation, and sustainability, with a human rights-based approach," the court asserted.
IACtHR President Judge Nancy Hernández López said following the ruling that "states must not only refrain from causing significant environmental damage but have the positive obligation to take measures to guarantee the protection, restoration, and regeneration of ecosystems."
"Causing massive and irreversible environmental harm...alters the conditions for a healthy life on Earth to such an extent that it creates consequences of existential proportions," she added. "Therefore, it demands universal and effective legal responses."
The advisory opinion builds on two landmark decisions last year. In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Swiss government violated senior citizens' human rights by refusing to abide by scientists' warnings to rapidly phase out fossil fuel production.
The following month, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea found in an advisory opinion that greenhouse gas emissions are marine pollution under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that signatories to the accord "have the specific obligation to adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce, and control" them.
The IACtHR advisory opinion is expected to boost climate and human rights lawsuits throughout the Americas, and to impact talks ahead of November's United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, in Belém, Brazil.
Climate defenders around the world hailed Thursday's advisory opinion, with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calling it "a landmark step forward for the region—and beyond."
"As the impact of climate change becomes ever more visible across the world, the court is clear: People have a right to a stable climate and a healthy environment," Türk added. "States have a bedrock obligation under international law not to take steps that cause irreversible climate and environmental damage, and they have a duty to act urgently to take the necessary measures to protect the lives and rights of everyone—both those alive now and the interests of future generations."
Amnesty International head of strategic litigation Mandi Mudarikwa said, "Today, the Inter-American Court affirmed and clarified the obligations of states to respect, ensure, prevent, and cooperate in order to realize human rights in the context of the climate crisis."
"Crucially, the court recognized the autonomous right to a healthy climate for both individuals and communities, linked to the right to a healthy environment," Mudarikwa added. "The court also underscored the obligation of states to protect cross-border climate-displaced persons, including through the issuance of humanitarian visas and protection from deportation."
Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement that "this opinion sets an important precedent affirming that governments have a legal duty to regulate corporate conduct that drives climate harm."
"Though the United States is not a party to the treaty governing the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, this opinion should be a clarion call for transnational fossil fuel companies that have deceived the public for decades about the risks of their products," Merner added. "The era of accountability is here."
Markus Gehring, a fellow and director of studies in law at Hughes Hall at the University of Cambridge in England, called the advisory opinion "highly inspiring" and "seminal."
Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife, and oceans at Earthjustice, said that "the Inter-American Court's ruling makes clear that climate change is an overriding threat to human rights in the world."
"Governments must act to cut carbon emissions drastically," Caputo stressed. "While the United States and some other major polluters have chosen to ignore climate science, the rest of the international community is advancing protections for all from the realities of climate harm."
Climate litigation is increasing globally in the wake of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. In the Americas, Indigenous peoples, children, and green groups are among those who have been seeking climate justice via litigation.
However, in the United States, instead of acknowledging the climate emergency, President Donald Trump has declared an "energy emergency" while pursuing a "drill, baby, drill" policy of fossil fuel extraction and expansion.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Admin Quietly Approves Massive Crude Oil Expansion Project
"This thinly analyzed decision threatens the lifeblood of the American Southwest," said one environmental attorney.
Jul 04, 2025
The Trump administration has quietly fast-tracked a massive oil expansion project that environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers warned could have a destructive impact on local communities and the climate.
As reported recently by the Oil and Gas Journal, the plan "involves expanding the Wildcat Loadout Facility, a key transfer point for moving Uinta basin crude oil to rail lines that transport it to refineries along the Gulf Coast."
The goal of the plan is to transfer an additional 70,000 barrels of oil per day from the Wildcat Loadout Facility, which is located in Utah, down to the Gulf Coast refineries via a route that runs along the Colorado River. Controversially, the Trump administration is also plowing ahead with the project by invoking emergency powers to address energy shortages despite the fact that the United States for the last couple of years has been producing record levels of domestic oil.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) issued a joint statement condemning the Trump administration's push to approve the project while rushing through environmental impact reviews.
"The Bureau of Land Management's decision to fast-track the Wildcat Loadout expansion—a project that would transport an additional 70,000 barrels of crude oil on train tracks along the Colorado River—using emergency procedures is profoundly flawed," the Colorado Democrats said. "These procedures give the agency just 14 days to complete an environmental review—with no opportunity for public input or administrative appeal—despite the project's clear risks to Colorado. There is no credible energy emergency to justify bypassing public involvement and environmental safeguards. The United States is currently producing more oil and gas than any country in the world."
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced the completion of its accelerated environmental review of the project, drawing condemnation from climate advocates.
Wendy Park, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, described the administration's rush to approve the project as "pure hubris," especially given its "refusal to hear community concerns about oil spill risks." She added that "this fast-tracked review breezed past vital protections for clean air, public safety and endangered species."
Landon Newell, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, accused the Trump administration of manufacturing an energy emergency to justify plans that could have a dire impact on local habitats.
"This thinly analyzed decision threatens the lifeblood of the American Southwest by authorizing the transport of more than 1 billion gallons annually of additional oil on railcars traveling alongside the Colorado River," he said. "Any derailment and oil spill would have a devastating impact on the Colorado River and the communities and ecosystems that rely upon it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular