Inflaming Hatred Against Jews : Inciting Violence Against Israel

   Gal Gadot, Israeli Actor     Getty Images

"Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation. Our neighbours deserve the same."

"I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we can live side by side in peace."

"I pray for better days."

Gal Gadot, Israeli actor, Instagram

"Firstly, the increased reach of news social media platforms, especially apps like TikTok and Instagram, have allowed misinformation and hatred to circulate like wildfire."

Michael Mostyn, CEO, B'nai Brit Canada

 

"No one controls the narrative anymore."

"With Black Lives Matter and the increasing awareness about human-rights issues, I think people are now feeling more empowered."

Ahmed Al Rawi, professor, school of communication, Simon Fraser University 

"Palestinian national aspirations are entirely legitimate and supporters of the Palestinian cause have every right to express their support online and in public."

"However, when actions cross over to hate speech, threats, and violence, they must be condemned by both civil society and political leaders, and when they occur online, must be removed by social media providers."

"What we have observed is a troubling increase in anti-Semitic incidents on and off-line. Invocation of Nazi imagery, demonization of Jews, misinformation about Jews and Israelis, and deliberate misinformation about the conflict all represent real challenges to those who aspire for peace."

Martin Sampson, vice-president, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

Palestinians hold flags as they stand at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City May 21, 2021.

Ammar Awad | Reuters

Gal Gadot's anodyne and sincere thoughts posted on her Instagram account appears to have incited a tsunami of repressed Jew-hatred, where a segment of the population on social media having assimilated propaganda launched by consummate masters of social-political influencing have succeeded in persuading huge swaths of the public -- gullible in their lack of interest much less knowledge about the history that makes up the Israel-Palestinian interface and wanting to be part of a 'social cause' have taken up the human-rights cudgel against what they are told are the 'aggressors' against a helpless, victimized people.

So much hate flooded this Israeli woman's Instagram account that she was forced to disable the replies function of her Instagram post. Gadot, tweeted Mia Khalifa, Lebanese-American former adult film actress, was a "Genocide Barbie". Again, accusations of genocide thrown at Jewish symbols of public acclaim, painting Jews who suffered the horrendous 20th Century genocide of the Holocaust as themselves genocidal against Palestinians.

Blatantly false, demeaning, demonizing, slanderous claims of 'genocide', of 'apartheid', labelling a nation that has had to defend its right to exist since its re-establishment in a small portion of historical

Judean land, identified by the Romans who occupied the area, as Palestine. Palestinian Jews. Not the latecoming Egyptian and Syrian Arabs who migrated into 'Palestine" in search of opportunities, colonizing land that many of the original occupants -- Jews -- never left. Appropriating the name Palestinian, and the land as their own.

And as the flavour of the day in 'woke' social media parlance, Gal Gadot's name began "trending" on Twitter. American journalist Ben Jacobs spoke of it as "an interesting euphemism on Twitter's part for being bombarded with vile and anti-Semitic attacks online". That, of course, is the perspective of the assaulted, not the smug satisfaction of the assaulters who were quite content to send hate messages to "Genocide Barbie".

@impact is an Instagram account set up to share "digestible & socially impactful content" with its 1.6 million followers, posting screenshots of tweets announcing: "we remain far from justice", and the fight to "save Palestine" must continue. Instagram, Tik-Tok and Tumblr have given social media the stick it values with which to bludgeon those that the woke social scene identifies as 'racist' and 'anti-human-rights' and that is the niche that Israel and Jews have been plugged into.

Claims posted cannot be verified as having any resemblance to fact or the truth, but those claims are absorbed and regurgitated with alarming regularity; dishonourable, damaging, and damned, the claims resonate with the passion of those eager to belong to groups with a social cause, and this is the season for 'Palestinian rights', damning the 'Israeli occupation' that is 'murdering' Palestinian children. The terrorist group Hamas has acquired the sweet flavour of daunting righteous champions of the defenceless.

Their terrorism along with other Palestinian 'activist' groups like Islamic Jihad and the Palestine Liberation Organization transforms them in sympathetic minds from terrorists who lob missiles and rockets into civilian enclaves for the express purpose of killing Jews, to 'fighters' for justice and liberation of the Palestinian Territories. That such 'liberation' would comprise the end of Israel is of great disinterest although the charters of those terrorist groups spell out their purpose: to destroy Israel.

Communications professor Gabriel Weimann at the University of Haifa, explains: "Since no one controls, regulates or checks these videos [portraying Israel as a state-aggressor of Palestinians out to destroy Palestinian aspirations of statehood while just for fun killing Palestinian children], you can post whatever you want. There are a lot of lies". 

Pakistani film star Veena Malik tweeted, ostensibly quoting Adolf Hitler: "I would have killed all the Jews of the world ... but I kept some to show the world why I killed them". Twitter, evidently, was oblivious to the presence on its platform of that delightful little quasi-quote. Its claims to restrict hate speech? well, awkward, isn't it?

Over 625 million views have been logged on TikTok of videos under the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah, the mostly Muslim/Arab neighbourhood in East Jerusalem where a long-standing dispute between Jews and Arabs -- where under illegal Jordanian rule long-time resident Jews were violently expelled -- over property rights ignored a mass protest led by Arab youth around the Al-Aqsa mosque, throwing rocks and inflammatory devices at Israeli police trying to maintain order on the disputed platform.

With 41.7 million Instagram followers, American-Palestinian Bella Hadid whose father is a Palestinian from Gaza, posted a video that announces "73 years of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine". The posts lean heavily on language emphasizing time and again the poisonous slander that Israel is responsible for "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians. Despite that 21 percent of the Israeli citizenry is Palestinian with equal rights to any other minority group in the country, much less the Jewish majority.

"How to be an ally with the Palestinians" is a post  first seen on an Instagram account named Paliroots, informing people to use terms like "apartheid" and "colonialism" and "ethnic cleansing", instead of "eviction", "conflict" or "war", urging people to join a boycott, divestment and sanction movement against the Jewish state.

"Before you post about Israel-Palestine, take a break and ask yourself: Will this statement move us closer to peace?" offers Israeli writer Hen Mazig, who has been posting infographics to his 43,000 Instagram followers.

Gal Gadot 'Wonderwoman' Instagram

Tech Giants Called to Account

"Today, it is effectively impossible to use the Internet without using, in one way or another, the services of these four companies."

"[Some of the findings of the anti-trust sub-committee to date throughout a year-long examination of the tech giants is] disturbing."

Jerry Nadler, committee chair, House Judiciary committee anti-trust sub-committee

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testifies Wednesday via video before the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee. The hearing also featured the heads of Apple, Facebook and Google.  Mandel Ngan/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

"The most powerful moments [of the committee's questioning] came from well-researched analysis of the documentary evidence supplied to the committee and almost always involved allegations of anti-competitive behaviour."

"This cut across all four companies with allegations of efforts to limit competition or take unfair advantage of their powerful positions. [This line of inquiry] will have legs [and become] a focal point of potential action."

"The EU has been heavily focused on content and data protection harms -- misuse of personal information, hate speech, misinformation [and] I expect that to continue. But ...the anti-trust issues have a more direct link to the U.S. economy since it impacts other U.S. companies and U.S. consumers."

"I think Canada will struggle to go it alone on these issues since we're a relatively small market with limited enforcement tools. I expect to see some legislative or regulatory reforms, but also efforts to align [with] countries with similar concerns."

Michael Geist, law professor, University of Ottawa; Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law

"[The] blowout [financial results this week could make it less likely -- not more -- that a potentially harmful case will be mounted against the business models of the tech giants amid the continuing pandemic]."

"I mean, we need positive news of companies making money because who else is going to employ people or keep the economy afloat?"

"We have not heard what is fundamentally wrong with any of these companies other than the fact that they are big and large numbers of people use their products."

"As much as there was griping during the sessions ... this was also a forum for the CEOs to make the case about what and how they are contributing to [the] American economy. And I saw those points got some good ink."

Kaan Yigit, president, Solutions Research Group, Toronto consultancy on digital technology

On Wednesday, elected representatives put questions to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google head Sundar Pichai, Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos, and Apple Inc. chief Tim Cook, through video linkage. Over five hours went by while the tech titans on several occasions were being accused by the committee of unfairly wielding market power to squeeze out competition, along with acquisitions, while censoring unpopular voices. The firms were queried over profiting from the pandemic as a result of demand rising exponentially for their products and services.

Smartphones, online shopping and social media communications have soared in popularity, resulting from populations confined to their homes or remaining close to them. Who, us? Not likely, they avowed, each and every one. Then, a day later, earnings data were released demonstrating most of the firms' stock prices surging upward, where Apple shares went so high the iPhone producer temporarily was recognized as the most valuable publicly-listed company in the world, at $1.76 trillion U.S.; more valuable than oil giant Saudi Aramco.

One Judiciary Committee member, U.S. Representative Jim Sensenbrenner gave warning that should the dominant providers of internet search, online shopping, smartphones and social media be dismantled, the disruptive effect would be huge, while at the same time having little positive after-effect. That despite their obvious market power, firms such as Google and Amazon might not suffer the decline posited, giving as an example the 1980s breakup of AT&T in a bid to stimulate competition in the telecom business which resulted in junior offshoots becoming a group of dominant players following mergers and acquisitions.

An anti-trust lawsuit against Google over its advertising business, however, is being prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general. Across Europe, regulators and competition authorities, Australia and the United Kingdom, have all been busy probing segments of these same giant, dominant tech firms. Australia has taken action with the release of a draft code of conduct set to be written into law later in the year, requiring Google and Facebook to begin remunerating news companies whose content their platforms feature.

"It's about ensuring that we have increased competition, increased consumer protection, and a sustainable media landscape", explained Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, from Melbourne. In Canada, the federal competition watchdog has an active interest in the digital economy and its direction. During Wednesday's questioning the tech CEOs were on the defensive when they were targeted on their far-reaching grasp, rejecting suggestions they are using their market power to acquire huge profits while taking command of new lines of business, squeezing out potential competitors.

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Rebut their accusers as they may the reality is that Amazon which came to life 26 years earlier as a book seller on the internet has grown over the years into the largest online retailer in the world, which posted its largest-ever quarterly profit a day later, then announced a $10 billion project in building over 3,000 satellites to enable high-speed broadband service. Wednesday's hearing pointed out that Jeff Bezos who runs Amazon has become the wealthiest individual in the world, surpassing Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates.

Amazon has branched out from its retail base into a new direction; logistics, with services, subscription entertainment services and "smart" voice-activated home technology. So as some would have it, there is no stopping this technological juggernaut, all the more so in a new world of social distancing which, even if and when a vaccine is discovered finally and distributed, inoculating the world against SARS-CoV-2, the certainty that other, and perhaps more lethal viruses are on the horizon, will ensure that the world remains distanced, able to communicate through the technology enabling the internet.