Israeli courts indict 145 Palestinians for online incitement

The phenomenon of Palestinians using social media for the spread of hatred is not new, but has significantly increased in the past months in tandem with the wave of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis.

The Israeli military has indicted more than 145 Palestinians so far in 2016 for incitement to terrorism and anti-Semitism on social media platforms, a statement by the courts said on Sunday.

Israel has been waging a campaign to stamp out online Palestinian incitement, which has been one of the driving forces that have fueled a yearlong campaign of Palestinian terror attacks.

Earlier this month, Israeli ministers met with Facebook executives in Israel to discuss ways of limiting calls to violence and expressions of hatred on the social media platform.

Israel has called on Facebook do more to monitor and control content. Facebook is also being sued by an Israeli organization for its alleged compliance with terrorism in wake of its failure to combat online incitement.

Israeli lawmakers have proposed legislation that seeks to force social networks to remove content Israel considers to be incitement.

The phenomenon of Palestinians using social media for the spread of hatred is not new, but has significantly increased in the past months in tandem with the wave of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis.

Using mostly Facebook messages, illustrations, short clips and music, the inciters encourage violence against Israelis.

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.