Fatah: Let Jerusalem “be freed of the Jews” and prepare “the Jews’ graveyard”
Abbas’ Fatah Movement recently posted a video with a song calling for Jerusalem “to be freed of the Jews.” It also encouraged Arab states to unite and break down borders between them to “redeem” Jerusalem and prepare “the Jews’ graveyard”:
Lyrics: “When the Arabness becomes heretical
and it becomes Zionist
and American
We will come to you [Jerusalem]
with the knights of Allah
Rejoice!
You’ll be freed of the Jews
We will redeem you
The borders [between the Arabs] will be broken down
And we will be united
This is the Jews’ graveyard”[Official Fatah Facebook page, Oct. 13, 2020]
This is an excerpt of the song “Our Jerusalem,” which calls on all Arabs and Muslims to “redeem” Jerusalem. It was originally published in December 2017 following US President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The reference to “the Arabness” becoming “heretical, Zionist, and American” also fits the current context of the UAE and Bahrain signing peace agreements with Israel. Something that the PA has criticized in strong terms, calling it “betrayal,” and naming the two Arab states “enemies of Islamic society.”
The PA and Fatah’s Antisemitism and linking of Muslim destiny to killing Jews is well documented in PMW’s Special Report - PA Antisemitism: Jews must be fought for Allah on behalf of all humanity.
Fatah continues misusing Facebook to promote Antisemitism and killing of Jews
It is precisely because of terror promoting and antisemitic posts like this that Fatah earlier this month had the option to boost posts cancelled by Facebook. The step followed extensive PMW correspondence with Facebook about Fatah’s promotion of terror and glorification of violence on its official Facebook page.
Fatah’s Spokesman in Europe Dr. Jamal Nazzal has claimed that the “Palestinian cause” is being targeted in particular, and complained that it is impossible to even post an image of “a Martyr” – meaning Facebook has taken action against posts that glorify terrorists:
“Many policies have been changed at Facebook on everything regarding the rules of usage, including with us as Palestinians.
Today if you publish a picture of a Martyr or prisoner, this is considered a breach of Facebook’s laws.
The truth is that these are restrictions directed against the Palestinian cause in general. This is a very unfortunate matter that is limiting the Palestinian voice and the Palestinian narrative’s voice in the world.”[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Oct. 11, 2020]
The independent Palestinian monitoring organization The Sada Social Center, which describes its purpose as “protecting and supporting the activities of Palestinians on social media,” has claimed that there are “campaigns on social media against Palestinian content,” and called the cessation of the boosted posts on Fatah’s official page for an “attack.” [Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Oct. 4, 2020]
Text accompanying the footage of Israeli soldiers used in the video with the song posted by Fatah: “Invasion of the center of Ramallah today at dawn, 13/10/2020”
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Video and text posted on the Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture
Posted text: “Fatah Movement Spokesman in Europe Dr. Jamal Nazzal”
Video:
Fatah Spokesman in Europe Jamal Nazzal: “For a long time restrictions have been imposed on my Facebook pages such that I could not reach you all due to the Facebook company’s management, even though I contacted them a number of times. Sometimes they answered, but they gave no answer. [It reached] the point that publishing on my page, on my pages, has been banned for a number of months, many months. Many policies have been changed at Facebook on everything regarding the rules of usage, including with us as Palestinians.
Today if you publish a picture of a Martyr or prisoner, this is considered a breach of Facebook’s laws.
The truth is that these are restrictions directed against the Palestinian cause in general. This is a very unfortunate matter that is limiting the Palestinian voice and the Palestinian narrative’s voice in the world. Sometimes you wonder why Facebook allows- …why the Facebook pages sometimes give possibilities and a platform to people who are known for not having any connection to humanity, and it lets them spread [their content]. Why? Because it seems- There are reasons that we cannot address because I am not aware of them all. I do not know why. On my official Facebook page there are nearly 250,000 [followers and likes]. This number has stopped growing since approximately the summer of 2019. In any case, even if someone could reach [just] a certain number of people, I thank whoever can share and whoever can pass on the materials that are [on my page].”[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Oct. 11, 2020]
Headline: “45 actions against Palestinian content during the month of September”
“The Sada Social Center documented the campaigns on social media against Palestinian content during the month of September [2020]. The center recorded 45 attacks on Palestinian content, with most of them on Facebook. The rate of attacks stood at 37 attacks of different types in the following manner: 16 pages, 19 private accounts, and two groups.
The most important attacks were the erasing of the page Ishraqat, the banning of the page Ultra Palestine, the limitations on the page Al-Qastal, and the stopping of all boosted posts by the official Fatah Movement [Facebook] page. Regarding the attacks on the other sites, there were three on Twitter, two on Instagram, one on YouTube, and one on Zoom.
It should be noted that this is the first time that an attack on Palestinian content was recorded on the [video conferencing] application Zoom, and this was after they banned holding a conference with the participation of Palestinian politician Laila Khaled (i.e., terrorist plane hijacker, involved in murder of 1). YouTube also banned the presentation of the conference after it began, on the pretext that it does not meet its conditions of use…
The [Sada Social] Center also condemned the meeting of the occupation’s [Permanent] Representative [of Israel] to the UN Gilad Erdan and UAE Representative to the UN Lana Nusseibeh, and views this as a serious blow and a new conspiracy against the Palestinian content, as the UAE is hosting the communications platforms’ headquarters in the Middle East.
In addition, a digital initiative was launched [by the Sada Social Center] to demand that the Facebook company focus its policy to fight hate speech, avoid supporting the Israeli efforts to censor the legitimate Palestinian discourse on the Palestinian rights, and to dismiss former Israeli Ministry of Justice Director-General Emi Palmor from her current position on Facebook’s Oversight Board.
The [Sada Social] center continues to monitor the attacks and seek ways to stop them with the content and policy departments of various social media platforms.”[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Oct. 4, 2020]