Spike in anti-Jewish Facebook sites
Simon Wiesenthal Center praises social network officials for removing anti-Semitic threats immediately after their identification
Simon Wiesenthal Center researchers have uncovered over two dozen Facebook sites with titles like “Kill a Jew Year” and “Kill a Jew Day” during one week alone.
“Some have been posted from the United States, others from the United Kingdom,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center who directs the Jewish Human Rights NGO’s Digital Terrorism and Hate project.
He indicated that the Wiesenthal Center had received numerous complaints about these recent threatening postings and others like them on Facbeook.
“Facebook officials have been very cooperative in removing these calls for anti- Jewish violence, but the hate continues to sprout at an alarming rate. We know they are committed to thwarting online bigotry, but if such a trend continues, we will urge Facebook and other social networking hubs to track and preempt online bigots more aggressively,” Cooper added.
Wiesenthal Center officials said they were particularly disturbed by these Facebook postings as they were inspired by a national “Kick a Ginger Day” last November 20, which actually resulted in numerous assaults against redheads.
The Wiesenthal Center’s 2010 annual report on digital terrorism and hate identifies over 12,500 problematic websites, newsgroups and social media postings that promote terrorism, racism, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and Islamophobia.
“With the world’s embrace of Social networking it is not surprising that haters and those promoting terrorism increasingly focus their efforts online to denigrate their enemies as well as recruit and fundraise for their causes. That is why the Wiesenthal Center has been urging more vigilance by key Internet providers during a series of briefings and meetings with officials at Facebook, Yahoo, Google and YouTube,” Rabbi Cooper concluded.
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