By COLlive reporter
An Israel-based civil rights organization launched an online campaign leveling unprecedented charges that Facebook is inciting terrorism around the world.
The campaign video by Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center comes after the recent stabbing and car-ramming attack by an Ohio State University student, when investigators exposed the attacker’s Facebook rant urging people to follow the slain al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki.
That attack and video underscore Shurat HaDin’s lawsuits against Facebook, Cohen v. Facebook and Force v. Facebook, which are pending before Judge Nicholas Garafufis in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.
A hearing to decide whether those cases can proceed to trial is scheduled for January 19, 2017.
The video, “Who’s Behind Terror? Rewind!,” opens with a slow-motion replay of a terrorist bomb attack in New York City, then rewinds time 10 minutes, then two hours, then 24 hours, then three months, to show the key moments when Facebook helped incite the terrorist to act.
“Facebook and other social media platforms have become a crucial component for international terror, the same as guns, bombs and money,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center.
“For years now, Facebook has continued to provide a platform for terrorist incitement despite repeated warnings. This has become one of today’s top global threats. Social media platforms want to believe terror has nothing to do with them and that they have unlimited immunity and can do whatever they want. We are going to put an end to it.”
Shurat HaDin’s first case against Facebook was filed in 2015 on behalf of 20,000 Israelis during the first weeks of the so-called “stabbing intifada,” after two Palestinians armed with a knife and gun attacked passengers on an Israeli bus.
In this case, Shurat HaDin seeks to shut down terrorist pages on Facebook not because of their content but because by allowing this content, Facebook allegedly facilitates terrorism by providing services to terrorists.
The case seeks an injunction forcing Facebook to actively monitor and block such pages, similarly to how banks block transactions with known terrorists.
In a second lawsuit, Shurat HaDin seeks $1 billion in damages on behalf the families of five Israeli victims of the terrorist group Hamas. This case, under the U.S. Antiterrorism Act, charges Facebook with providing material support and resources to Hamas – which the U.S. has designated a “foreign terrorist organization” – in the form of Facebook services that the group used in carrying out terrorist actions.
“It is shocking that one could not transfer even one dollar to Hamas because banks know not to permit transactions with terrorists, but Hamas and known Hamas officials can open Facebook pages, and use Facebook to recruit terrorists and aggrandize terrorism,” said attorney Robert J. Tolchin, who represents the plaintiffs in Brooklyn as the local counsel for Shurat HaDin.
“Facebook’s sophisticated platform and services are used by terrorists for communication, logistics, intelligence, fundraising and even prestige,” Shurat HaDin said in filing the first lawsuit. “Facebook has the data and the capability to cease providing services to terrorists, and it has chosen not to do so.”
VIDEO:
Following the joint announcement that Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube will create a shared database to help curb terrorist content, Shurat HaDin issued the following statement:
“This announcement by Facebook is a step in the right direction, but it’s too little, too late. This won’t undo the harm it has already caused to the victims of terrorism.
“Facebook should absolutely move forward with this database to share digital markers and remove terrorist content, but it’s no substitute for shutting down terrorists’ social media accounts. Social media platforms should be denying services to terrorists – and should be held accountable for aiding, abetting and inciting terrorism.”
Only if people make their voice heard can we make difference!!!
It’s easy to see how the social media Facebook accounts held by radical extremists can incite young disaffected or troubled people to violent actions & terrorism.
unfortunately, one of the results of freedom of speech is the ability to spew stupidity and radicalism. thats life and such it up!
This could provide a big breakthrough in curbing Terrorist activity if successful G-d willing. Shurat HaDin should be Matzliach in their endeavors toward this end. Hatzlacha Rabba!