
Facebook Deletes Free Palestine Page - ArabGeek
http://arabcrunch.com/2011/03/facebook-deletes-free-palestine-page.html
======
tomp
"We at ArabCrunch condemns this move by Facebook and call it a racist one,"

It angers me when people use the word _racist_ completely out of place. A
useful journalism practice, if your purpose is to attract the attention of as
many people as possible, but a despicable one, if your focus is on telling the
truth.

(Now, I agree that Palestinians and Israelis might be of different race, but
the rest of the article emphasizes the religious differences between the two
groups.)

~~~
lebasha
Not sure how did ArabCrunch come to this conclusion without even asking
Facebook and getting an answer.

Condemn the removal of the page, sure I'm with you but to call this a racist
move then I would say show me how you to got to that conclusion.. don't just
throw accusation because the CEO happens to fit the profile of someone you
don't like

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pavel_lishin
> It is worth mentioning that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is
> Jewish.

Not really.

~~~
ArabGeek
he is jewish and the page was criticizing the Jewish state israel

~~~
pavel_lishin
But it's not worth mentioning, because the odds are 99.99999999% against that
having anything to do with the page's removal.

Honestly, these kind of racist twitches really do a great disservice to
certain Muslim authors. The knee-jerk "BLAME THE JOOZ" response might be
understandable if Israel has been systematically trying to kill your family,
but in a world of rational discourse it makes me want to write you off as a
nutter.

~~~
ArabGeek
for Mark being a jew it is relevant, since this is double standards against
Muslims. while Facebook keep the pages that Insults the prophet of Islam, it
deletes the pages that criticize Israeli occupation of Palestine. how does
criticizing Israeli war crimes a wrong thing to do!?

What if facebook deleted a memorable page for the holocaust and Mark was
Muslim or German what would you say then?

~~~
pavel_lishin
It might be relevant if he personally deleted that page.

I would say the exact same thing - totally irrelevant.

------
cheez
Nothing to see here, move along. I'm sure they'd do the same for any page
getting significant traffic for the US. Facebook has no obligation to free
speech.

Edit: that being said, come on. Israel is a US-favoured state. I don't _blame_
Facebook, but don't be intellectually dishonest. It is quite probable that the
removal is politically motivated.

------
zdw
_... was calling for Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of
Palestine._

What kind of uprising? A peaceful, political movement? A forceful, military
uprising, or use of terrorist tactics? On one level this could be considered
free speech, on another, inciting violence.

~~~
Marwan
What do you mean by violence? If you mean military or forceful than I don't
agree. A land taken by force you get it back only by force.

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eibrahim
The site is down. I think it was attacked by a Zionist bot :)

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ArabGeek
Cashed copy of the site it is down now :
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dXfDrb0...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dXfDrb05bhoJ:arabcrunch.com/2011/03/facebook-
deletes-free-palestine-
page.html+facwebook+deletes+free+palestine+page&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=safari&source=www.google.com)

~~~
ArabGeek
site is back now

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ArabGeek
where is free speech when it comes to Israel?

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
"Free speech" doesn't mean you get to say whatever you want, wherever you
want, and whenever you want. Fundamentally it just means that the government
can't pass a law to prevent you from expressing your opinion. It in no way
implies that every private venue (e.g. Facebook) is required to accomadate
your opinions. The corollary to my free speech is that you have a right to
_not_ have to listen to me if you so choose.

~~~
ArabGeek
well, criticizing Israel is part of free speech. the page was calling for
uprising against Israeli occupation. how different is this from calling to
oust corrupt Mubarak? why is it ok not to have a venue to criticize israel
while it is ok to insult the prophet of islam?

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
All valid points but it would only be a free speech issue if Facebook was a
government or publicly-supported institution. Mosques have the right to block
Christians from proselytizing on their premises (and vice versa). That's not
preventing free speech (they're still totally free to stand on a streetcorner
and vent), it's giving the guy who owns the private property the right to use
it the way he wants.

People often misinterpret free speech as meaning they get some kind of
universal pass but free speech actually has very specific limits (and for good
reason).

~~~
ArabGeek
do not compare facebook to a church or a masjed, facebook is a social media
platform where we all from different religions and background come together
share news and opinions. blocking one voice against the occupier, favoring
anti islam stuff while censoring anti -israeli occupation voices is a racists
move

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maratd
If CEO Mark Zuckerberg is Jewish, that means Facebook is a Jewish site. By
creating a page on it, I can only surmise that you are a secret Jew pretending
to be an Arab. Why else would you use a handle like "ArabGeek"? You're just
trying to convince us that you're not a Jew, when you really are. We know who
you really are. Just another member of the Zionist conspiracy.

~~~
maratd
Awwww what's wrong? The joo haters don't have a sense of humor? Too bad.

