October 17, 2015
Media Coverage:
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has criticised Channel 7 News for allowing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel posts to remain on its Facebook page for four days. Following a posting of a video showing a Palestinian man ramming his car into a group of Israelis on the 7 News Facebook page, an avalanche of hateful comments were posted and were neither removed nor moderated. Remarks by users included: “I blame Hitler, he left a few to breed”; I will be more than happy to send my kids to kill those dogs cause 65 years of them taking over my country and killing our kids and raping out women in enough”; Israel committed mass genocide and ethnic cleansing… expelling thousands of Palestinians from their homes and raping their women”; “hope Israel burns”. Channel 7 News eventually deleted the news item and the entire thread of posts.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“I am appalled by the level of vile anti-Israel and anti-Semitic expression revealed by the vicious comments posted. At a time of a dramatic rise in intolerance against the Jewish community and other minorities, and the campaign to radicalise and recruit young people, we need to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to this burgeoning threat and to cancerous hate speech and incitement. Many of the posts contain dangerous, classic blood-libels that have often led to violence against Jews, and clearly overstep the mark of what is acceptable speech. I am doubly concerned that Channel 7 has allowed these egregiously bigoted remarks to remain on their page for four days and has not removed them. This risks normalising such ugly sentiments and sending a message that it’s OK to demean and malign Jews. One user laments the fact that Hitler left some Jews alive, while another offers to send his kids to Israel to murder “those dogs”. Others resuscitate the old slander of Israelis raping Palestinian women, describe Israelis as pigs, and accuse Zionists of controlling the media. The Facebook page of channel 7 News or any other network should not become the weapon of choice to be used to vilify Jews and Israel and to spread anti-Semitism. We urge all media giants to take the lead and to act responsibly by putting in place necessary mechanisms so they can effectively monitor what is being posted and prevent their powerful social networks from being used to actively promote racist speech and prejudice. Australia is one of the most inclusive and multicultural places in the world, and we all have a duty to ensure it remains this way.”
For more information, please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on (03) 9272-5677