2016-12-06

 I’lam has issued a report on the increase in racially motivated incitement to hate and violence on social media against Israel’s Arab community in the wake of the recent wave of fires throughout Israel. The report provides examples of Facebook posts that, at best, refer to the fires as terrorism, and at worst, calls for destruction of property, violence, and even killing of Arabs. The featured posts come from Israeli politicians including PM Netanyahu and MK Naphtali Bennet, Rabbis such as Shmuel Eliyahu of Tzfat, and activists. A link to the report (written in Arabic with Facebook posts in Hebrew) can be found here.

The report also references the controversial arrest of a Bedouin man accused of inciting arson via a Facebook post. Supporters of the accused, including MKs of the Joint List party, maintain that the post was mistranslated and was intended sarcastically. A link to the complete article regarding this issue (in Arabic) can be found here.