WHILE BANNING OR SHADOW-BANNING FOES OF JIHAD TERROR, TWITTER REFUSES TO BAN HAMAS
BY ROBERT SPENCER
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
I myself am shadowbanned on Twitter, which you can verify for yourself. If you can see my tweets at all, which many cannot, take a key word from one of them and search for that word at Twitter: many tweets will appear that use that word, but my tweet will not come up in the search. Twitter works hard to make sure that as few people as possible see the reality of jihad violence. And of course Twitter has banned or shadowbanned numerous others for the crime of opposing jihad terror and Sharia oppression of women and others. To Twitter, that’s “hate,” but Hamas is A-OK.“Rep. Lee Zeldin: Twitter’s refusal to ban murderous terrorist group Hamas is remarkable and unacceptable,” by Rep. Lee Zeldin, Fox News, July 12, 2019:The dawn of the 21st century marked the emergence of the social media age. With over 3 billion users worldwide, social media have transformed every facet of our lives, including by being used for nefarious purposes, such as incitement of violence and the promotion of terror.Social media serve as the propaganda machine of 21st century terror, and this is apparent in the Middle East. Nowhere is it more dangerous than on the ground amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas – a designated foreign terrorist organization – whips up violent masses in “Days of Rage” nearly instantaneously and raises monetary resources at the push of a button for harmful purposes.Hamas blocks access to humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, targets civilians with deadly rockets, has declared jihad as an obligation, and uses women and children as human shields. Nonetheless, Twitter, a U.S. company, continues to offer its invaluable platform to this terrorist organization to advance its hateful ideology and propaganda.Last month, 15 of my colleagues and I urged Twitter’s CEO to ban all designated foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas. We’ve witnessed social media become an invaluable and powerful resource that should be denied to terrorists.But instead of banning Hamas, Twitter is doubling down. In its response, Twitter laid out the criteria it uses to identify and ban “violent extremist groups,” defending its own failure to do so with Hamas. Ironically, Hamas meets each and every one of its criteria.First, Twitter says “violent extremist groups” must “identify through their stated purpose, publication, or actions, as an extremist group.” As a whole, Hamas long followed a comprehensive charter blatantly promoting jihad as an obligation and called for the murder of all Jews. Even in Hamas’ latest attempt to revise its original charter, the language does not renounce violence and still considers jihad a legitimate duty of its people.Second, Twitter stated “violent extremist groups” must “have engaged in, or currently engage in, violence and/or the promotion of violence as a means to further their cause.” Hamas’ charter specifically targets Israel in its promotion of violence, and the entire foundation of what Hamas calls its “Islamic Resistance Movement” is aimed at the destruction of Israel itself.In fact, every year, Hamas uses Twitter to recruit members to incite violence on its “Days of Rage,” encouraging the citizens of Gaza to severely harm Jews and praise “martyrs” who kill innocent civilians.Third, Twitter highlights that “violent extremist groups” must “target civilians in their acts and/or promotion of violence.” Just one of many examples of Hamas’ targeting of Israeli civilians came just recently on May 15, when Fathi Hammad, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, addressed Israel as the “Zionist enemy” saying, “the day of your slaughter, extermination, and annihilation has drawn near.” And in just the past two months, Hamas has fired over 700 rockets into Israel, killing innocent civilians….
