Third Intifada on Facebook
Third Intifada on FacebookIsrael news photo: Facebook

A growing backlash is well underway in response to the unwillingness of Facebook to remove a page promoting a third violent Intifada against Israel. The site has said it will monitor and remove violent posts, but is unwilling to remove the page despite numerous complaints and clear evidence that its content violates Facebook's own Terms of Service.

In addition to official requests by the government of the State of Israel and the New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), numerous other groups and private individual members have reported the page to the social networking site as a violation of its terms of service.

Among the most vocal was United with Israel, with a 200,000-strong Jewish pro-Israel Facebook community.

“As soon as the Third Palestinian Intifada page hit, we got to work putting up a web page with an 'open letter' to Facebook,” said Michael Gerbitz, spokesman for the group. 

“We also are seeking to unite the entire pro-Israel world by gaining 'one million voices for peace in Israel' on our Facebook page to oppose the Palestinians' drive for one million fans who advocate violence and slaughter of innocent Israelis.”

Gerbitz pointed out that sometimes it takes a crisis to bring together all the disparate fragments of the Jewish world – but once they have come together, “we can do so much.”

Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander has also joined the campaign to pressure Facebook into removing the page.

“We all know what can happen with the social media these days,” wrote Hollander in a message sent out to his personal email list. “If you look at the wall of this Facebook page, you will see a lot of people calling for the death of the Jews and for the destruction of Israel. “

Hollander, a member of the nascent reconstituted Sanhedrin, instructed readers in his letter  to report the page to Facebook as a violation of the site's terms of service under “Violence of Harmful Behavior” and “Credible Threat of Violence.”.