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Hamas: Israel enlists informants via Facebook
Terror group says Israeli defense establishment uses private info published by Gazans on social networks to blackmail them into supplying info on organization
Hamas is
claiming that Israel
enlists collaborators from Gaza through the social networking site Facebook, the BBC reported Monday.
Ehab al-Hussein, a spokesman for Hamas's interior ministry, said people who used the site were generally unaware of how to secure information and that some of the residents of the Strip use Facebook to discuss problems in their personal life.
He said the IDF then uses this information to blackmail the site's users into helping it in its battle against Hamas. Al-Hussein said he too has a Facebook account, but that the only information it displays is that he is a Hamas spokesman.
Ronen Bergman, an expert on intelligence and author of "Israel's Secret War with Iran", told the BBC that making use of social networking sites is the very least one would expect from Israeli security forces, but that he does not believe recruiting informants from Facebook would be effective in the long run.
Khaled, a resident of Gaza who was injured in clashes that occurred a year ago and came to Israel to receive medical treatment, says he was asked by Israeli security whether his friends and neighbors belonged to Hamas.
"They say that they know everything about you, but actually it's information you have already published on Facebook," he said. "It's not safe to publish such information – I believe it allows Israel to keep watching our movements."
