Right-wing activist Baruch Marzel was banned from WhatsApp and is unable to send and receive messages on the popular messaging app owned by Meta (Facebook).
Marzel responded to the ban stating: "For over 50 years the left is trying to silence us, but we continue and get stronger. 'The more they were oppressed the more they increased and spread out' (Exodus 1). With G-d's help, we will increase our work to save Israel from enemies from within and from the outside. They won't manage to silence us."
The move is rare and extreme, and it has only been taken against a small number of right-wingers, among them Lehava head Bentzi Gopstein.
"There's no special reason for the ban as far as I know," says Marzel. "I've recently been uploading statuses with Torah lessons from rabbi Meir Kahane, and people who aren't in my groups see those statuses, maybe leftists, too."
About a year and a half ago, Facebook banned the WhatsApp profiles of 15 right-wing activists, among them Bentzi Gopstein and Ayala Ben-Gvir, wife of MK Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Meta has declined to comment on the ban thus far.