Israeli lobbyists, organizations, and former intelligence operatives are actively working behind the scenes to suppress free speech, stifle debate at academic institutions, ban advocacy groups, and curtail the right to assembly. This coordinated effort has intensified during the ongoing Gaza war, with substantial complicity from Western governments and major social media platforms.
On December 17, the BBC published an investigation into META’s censorship practices in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. A team from BBC Arabic analyzed 20 popular Israeli media outlets and 20 Palestinian ones, comparing their engagement before and after October 7, 2023.
The findings were striking: while engagement on Israeli pages surged by nearly 37%, Palestinian pages experienced a dramatic 77% decrease in reach.
Following an Israeli lobbying campaign, META escalated its censorship measures by banning pro-Palestine users from its platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. This move prompted at least 35 Zionist organizations to pressure other social media platforms to adopt similar policies. On X (formerly Twitter), owner Elon Musk announced plans to ban accounts using the phrase “from the river to the sea,” controversially labeling it as a call for genocide.
For now, the public backlash against these decisions appears to have staved off a broader crackdown on X.
BREAKING: The Israeli regime and its propaganda apparatus is now pushing social media platforms to ban and censor anyone exposing and debunking the “mass rape” hoax. This is the only thing they have left now with all their hoax lies having crumbled: Direct censorship pic.twitter.com/1Dsxqi9d8c
—
(@zei_squirrel) April 10, 2024
State-Backed Censorship
It is well-documented that former members of Israel’s elite military intelligence Unit 8200 have, for years, secured prominent roles within major tech companies, including X, Meta, Google, and Microsoft. Despite this infiltration of influential platforms, spaces critical of Israel have continued to emerge online.
One such platform is TikTok, which has become a prominent hub for pro-Palestine content, particularly among younger audiences. The app’s format has allowed young users to amplify voices critical of Israeli policies, making it a significant source of counter-narratives and grassroots activism.
Leaked audio from Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), revealed his explicit concern over what he described as a “major TikTok problem.” The platform’s proliferation of pro-Palestine content has clearly unsettled those advocating for stricter censorship of online spaces critical of Israel.
In response, the Washington-based Atlantic Council attempted to dismiss the Israeli lobby’s efforts to censor TikTok as a “Tehran-cooked conspiracy theory.” However, the motivations of pro-Israeli U.S. Congress members supporting legislation to ban TikTok were thinly veiled. Their actions, coupled with Zionist organizations openly celebrating the move, made clear the political intent behind targeting the platform.
Pro-Israel policing of public discourse has not just been relegated to the United States. Founded in Israel in 2002, NGO Monitor is an organization focused on scrutinizing and discrediting pro-Palestinian charitable and advocacy groups. It employs tactics similar to those used by the Israeli government to label six prominent Palestinian rights organizations as “terrorist organizations.” These accusations claim links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and Canada.
A formal complaint was recently lodged with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) concerning the activities of NGO Monitor. Although not registered as a charitable organization in Canada, NGO Monitor has received over $900,000 in Canadian tax-receipted donations since 2020. These funds were funneled through the Foundation for Public Policy Development and Canada Charity Partners.
Here is our compilation of data on the funding of NGO Monitor.
Funders include many Zionist family foundations also supporting the occupation of Palestine and the Islamophobia network:
Rosenwald
Koret
Singer
Becker
Milstein
Shillman#DismantleZionism pic.twitter.com/BJfmdrl3M8— David Miller (@Tracking_Power) August 13, 2023
In 2021, when Tel Aviv presented a 74-page document alleging connections between Palestinian rights groups and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), it failed to persuade even Israel’s staunchest European allies of its claims. However, NGO Monitor has seemingly achieved greater success in its campaigns targeting pro-Palestinian organizations.
The group played a significant role in lobbying efforts that led to the U.S. and Canadian governments designating Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as a terrorist organization, a move critics say is little more than a politically motivated attempt to silence pro-Palestinian advocacy and humanitarian efforts while undermining free speech on behalf of Israel.
Free Speech for me, not for thee
As Donald Trump’s Republican administration prepares to re-enter the White House on January 20, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has signaled the government’s intent to implement measures that could severely restrict freedom of expression on college campuses. Cruz, a staunch supporter of Israel and recipient in millions in donations from pro-Israel lobby groups, declared that “antisemitic protests at universities will end next year.”
Senator Ted Cruz escalated his rhetoric, asserting that arrests, expulsions, and even deportations would be used as responses to pro-Palestine student demonstrations. “We’re going to see universities that tolerate antisemitism having their federal funds cut off,” he stated, aligning himself with a similar pledge made earlier by Donald Trump.
Israeli and Israeli-linked private security firms have increasingly been contracted to enforce crackdowns on student protesters at academic institutions across Canada and the United States. This development appears to be a direct consequence of governmental pressure on universities to suppress criticism of Israel on their campuses.
While the Republican Party frequently touts freedom of speech on college campuses as a key talking point to criticize Democrats, this commitment vanishes when the topic shifts to Israel. Discussions critical of Israel, or even Zionism, or supportive of Palestinian rights often spark Republican-led efforts to suppress such speech.
Similarly, Elon Musk, who has branded himself as a staunch advocate for free speech on X (formerly Twitter), has shown a comparable inconsistency. Despite his rhetoric, Musk has reportedly acquiesced to Israeli demands to crack down on anti-Zionist accounts and impose shadow bans.
Feature photo | A video grab of protesters outside BBC Broadcasting House, London, October 16, 2023. Photo | AP
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47
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