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In an Arutz Sheva interview, MK Oded Forer(Yisrael Beitenu) explained his demand from the Minister of Culture to reconsider the government advertisements on Youtube, since the money from these advertisements reaches terror organizations which advertise on Youtube.

What is the problem with advertising on Youtube?

Whoever watches or publishes clips on Youtube is aware that advertisements are included in the clips and if certain clips have large viewership he can split the profits with Youtube. Some people make money from this and this is fine.

The problem is that apparently advertisements funded by the state appear in clips which were uploaded by terror organizations, neo-Nazi organizations and those who besmirch Israel. There are two problems here- does the State of Israel want to appear in such clips and the fact that monies which the Government Office of Publications transfers to Youtube end up in the hands of those terror or neo-Nazi organizations. This must be stopped.

Can the State ask Youtube to define which clips it is willing to advertise on?

Definitely. I have investigated this story for the past month in the Knesset Auditing Committee. Last week representatives of Youtube were summoned to an urgent debate in Parliament on the issue of advertising funding terrorist and hate groups. Commercial companies have stopped advertising on Youtube until a solution is found for this matter. It's important that the State of Israel should not lag behind on this issue. We must summon the Google representatives to the Government Office of Publications and clarify to them that they must find a solution to this problem or we will not be able to allocate advertising budgets to them.

How much money is reaching problematic sources?

According to estimates, about 10% of the government budget for advertising on Facebook and YouTube amounting to four million shekels ($1 million) a year, is potentially being channeled to advertisers which fund terrorism and neo-Nazi groups due to Youtube advertisement policies. I don't know how much of the money goes to Youtube and how much to those who published the clips. But from my point of view, its unthinkable that even one dollar or one shekel should be transferred from Israel to terror organizations.

Is Israel afraid of challenging a powerful organization like Google which owns Youtube?

It's time that regulation is updated to the Internet era. It's happening all over the world and it should happen in Israel, especially when the state demands that Facebook and Google remove inciteful materials. Some of the types of incitement which motivated the ;ast wave of terror stemmed from these social media so it is intolerable that in the end they should benefit from state funds.