Uncoverage Weekend: Facebook and The Third Intifada Suit Charges "The Social Network" Is Being Misused

Uncoverage.net

Judicial and Freedom Watch Founder Alleges Misuse of “Social Network” In Threatening Jews with Death For Profit

For weeks, a number of us have written about the despicable and frightening “Third Intifada” Facebook fan page, which has been advocating for war against the Jews and Israel using Facebook to organize.

The Facebook page was called “The Third Intifada:”

The page, created on March 6, called for a third intifada, or uprising against the Israeli occupation, to begin on May 15 — the date marked by Israel as its official independence anniversary but marked by Palestinians as the “Naqba” — or catastrophe.

Facebook said it was aware that several copycat sites had since sprung up and it was monitoring them.

The first intifada began in December 1987 with rock throwing, protests and civil disobedience and lasted until the 1993 Oslo peace accords. A second and far more bloody intifada broke out in 2000 and eventually ran out of steam some five years later.

Let’s put it this way….Facebook was WARNED. Somehow it is permissible to allow the most vile, violent, slanderous sludge to be posted on pages about Jews, but the slightest slight against Muslims gets yanked down immediately.

Even AFTER Facebook took down the “3rd Intifada” page, there were other “mirror” or similar pages which were allowed to remain. It has truly been shocking. If, as Mr. Klayman claims, Facebook is most concerned about losing Muslim advertising revenue, Facebook customers should know and make their choices about a social network. Good luck, Mr. Klayman.

(Washington, D.C., March 31, 2011).

Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, and a U.S. Senate candidate in 2004, today filed suit against the “founder” of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook itself for their role in furthering a radical Palestinian page called “Third Intifada,” which threatened Jews in particular with death. Mr. Klayman, who is of Jewish origin, is a prominent public interest advocate and as Chairman of Judicial Watch and now Freedom Watch has pursued court cases and other activities that involve radical Palestinians. He is also known to be a strong supporter of Israel, and has been called a “Zionist” publicly by radical Palestinians and other such Arabic interests. Mr. Klayman is thus a target of this call to kill Jews.

Over the course of the last week, Defendants were asked to take this Third Intifada and related sites down, but refused. Only in the last few days did they do so, after increased pressure was exerted by the Israeli government.

However, the damage had already been done and it is believed that this and other pages will soon reappear on Facebook.

As alleged in the complaint, one can explain the initial refusal to take down the page as an effort by the Zuckerberg and Facebook to increase the social network’s net worth based on viewership and use. It is not in dispute that Facebook has profited handsomely by the turmoil in the Middle East.

The complaint alleges assault and negligence, including willful and wanton conduct, gross negligence and recklessness on the part of the Defendants, as it has put Mr. Klayman’s life at risk, as well as other similarly situated Jews who are prominent public figures and otherwise. The complaint reserves the right to be amended into a class action suit and prays for compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $1 Billion Dollars.

“While Facebook has accomplished a lot of good, it can, as in this instance, be used for nefarious and evil purposes. Defendants Zuckerberg’s and Facebook’s callous and greedy actions in not taking down the page, but willfully allowing it to stay up for many days, has caused huge damage, for which they must be held accountable, so as to prevent this from ever happening again. They must be not only enjoined but also hit in their purse, which is where they understand matters best. Apparently, the ethically compromised Zuckerberg has no conscience or sense of right or wrong, as depicted recently in the award winning film “Social Network.”

The complaint can be found at www.freedomwatchusa.org</span>.

Below, from YIDwithLID, is some of the background on the huge hate response the “Intifida” page got on Facebook. It had hundreds of thousands of “Likes” in just a few days. There was a concerted effort by the Jewish community WORLDWIDE to remove the page…which fell on deaf ears until this week.

ADL’s Abe Foxman blasted the Third Intifada site and Facebook:

“This Facebook page constitutes an appalling abuse of technology to promote terrorist violence,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “Although the managers of this group claim to be calling for peaceful demonstrations, the Third Intifada pages include calls for followers to build on the previous two intifadas. We should not be so naïve to believe that a campaign for a ‘Third Intifada’ does not portend renewed violence, especially in the current climate that has seen a dramatic increase in rocket attacks from Gaza, the brutal murder of the Fogel family in the West Bank, and a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem.”

…..”We are disappointed that Facebook has rejected our request to remove this site, which is in clear violation of their terms of service,” said Mr. Foxman. “We are especially disappointed in this case because in the past there has often been understanding and sensitivity from Facebook when we have brought violations of its own rules to its attention. We urge Facebook to reconsider its decision and remove this site, which by its very title incites violence.”

An email campaign to pressure the popular social networking site into removing the page has been mounted by pro-Israel groups as well as private individuals. All have expressed increasing concern over the potential danger to Israeli citizens that may result from the page, which clearly promotes violence against Jews in Israel. As of tonight the site has revived almost 348,000 “likes”

Last week Israel asked Facebook to take the site down . Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein wrote in a letter e- mailed to media yesterday. “As Facebook’s CEO and founder you are obviously aware of the site’s great potential to rally the masses around good causes, and we are all thankful for that,” Edelstein said. “However, such potential comes hand in hand with the ability to cause great harm such as in the case of the wild incitement displayed on the above-mentioned page.”

Here is a video showing other anti-Jewish, anti-Israel Facebook pages:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SESh2eemETU

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