RAMALLAH, March 30 (JMCC) - After an appeal from an Israeli official, the social networking site Facebook has deleted a page established calling for a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
While Facebook initially refused to heed calls to take down the page, the company said that more recent comments advocating violence made by contributors made it change its mind,
reports the Associated Press.
The page, titled “Third Palestinian Intifada,” had more than 350,000 fans when it was taken down. It called on Palestinians to take to the streets after Friday prayers on May 15 and begin an uprising. “Judgment Day will be brought upon us only once the Muslims have killed all of the Jews,” a quote from the page read.
Facebook said the page began as a call for peaceful protest, even though it used the term “intifada,” which it said has been associated with violence in the past.
“However, after the publicity of the page, more comments deteriorated to direct calls for violence,” said Andrew Noyes, Facebook’s public policy communications manager. He said the creators of the page eventually made calls for violence as well.
“We monitor pages that are reported to us, and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate — as occurred in this case — we have and will continue to take them down.”
Israeli minister Yuli Edelstein last week sent a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg asking that the page be removed.
Facebook users had threatened to boycott the company if the page were to be blocked, however, no such boycott appears to be underway.