UPDATE: Subsequent to our alert exposing Meshwar Editor, Nazih Khatatba for publishing a Facebook post claiming that “there are no civilians in the Israeli society” meaning that in his eyes, all Israelis are legitimate targets for terror attacks, his post has now vanished from his Facebook page. We wonder, did Mr. Khatatba delete his post for fear of being banned by Facebook?
Original Post
Nazih Khatatba and the Mississauga-based Arabic-language newspaper Meshwar, of which he is the Editor, have been long accused of engaging in antisemitic hate, Holocaust denial and of glorifying Palestinian terrorism.
For many years, HonestReporting Canada has worked tirelessly to expose Nazih Khatatba and Meshwar’s hateful conduct.
Recently, on March 7, Khatatba authored a post on his Facebook page that appeared to be inspired by the antisemitic blood libel that Jews murdered non-Jews to use their blood for ritual purposes. At the time, we called on Facebook to ban Khatatba from its platform for his spreading antisemitic hate. Disturbingly, Facebook has not taken any action to limit, suspend, or ban Khatatba.
Importantly, one month later on April 7, Khatatba used his Facebook page to comment on a recent Palestinian terror attack that saw two British-Israeli sisters brutally murdered in a shooting attack in Judea & Samaria (the “West Bank”).
Khatatba wrote:
HonestReporting Canada has independently verified the translation of Meshwar’s words from the original Arabic.
These comments are eerily similar to remarks made in 2004 by former Canadian Islamic Congress President Mohammed Elmasry, who at the time said that all Israelis above the age of 18 are legitimate targets for Palestinian suicide bombers, because they’ve all served in the Israeli army. Elmasry had told the Globe and Mail the targets would also include out-of-uniform military personnel at bus stops.
With respect to the recent victims of Palestinian terrorism, Maia Dee was 20 and was volunteering for national service in a high school, while her younger sister Rina was 15. Both were British-Israeli citizens, both were unarmed and both were in civilian clothing when they were gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist, while their mother, 48-year-old Lucy, is still fighting for her life at a hospital.
That Nazih Khatatba claims that “there are no civilians in the Israeli society” means that in his eyes, all Israelis are legitimate targets for terror attacks; whether suicide bombings, rocket attacks or shooting rampages.
Facebook’s own terms of use and codes of conduct states that it prohibits hate speech on its social media platform and incitement to violence. As Nazih Khatatba continues to use his Facebook page to spread, in our view, dangerous antisemitic hate and to promote violence and as we fear that online hate can turn into real world violence, join our call to action to call on Facebook to ban Nazih Khatatba from its platform.
To report Nazih Khatatba’s comment, please do the following:
Step 1: Please note, the post has now been deleted.
Step 2: Click the 3 dots in the top-right corner
Step 3: Select ‘Report post’
Step 4: Select ‘Hate speech’
Step 5: Select ‘Religious affiliation’
Step 6: Click ‘Submit’
