The Intercept:
"The Associated Press reports today from Jerusalem that 'the Israeli government and Facebook have agreed to work together to determine how to tackle incitement on the social media network.' These meetings are taking place 'as the government pushes ahead with legislative steps meant to force social networks to rein in content that Israel says incites violence.' In other words, Israel is about to legislatively force Facebook to censor content deemed by Israeli officials to be improper ...
The joint Facebook-Israel censorship efforts, needless to say, will be directed at Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians who oppose Israeli occupation.
In 2014, thousands of Israelis used Facebook to post messages calling for the murder of Palestinians. ... Indeed, Justice Minister Shaked herself — now part of the government team helping Facebook determine what to censor — has used Facebook to post astonishingly extremist and violence-inducing rhetoric against Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his other top ministers have done the same. ... Can anyone imagine Facebook deleting the posts of prominent Israelis calling for increased violence or oppression against Palestinians?"
-->The NYT likes to talk about the potential evils of the tech world. But not when it comes to Israel. It didn't print this story.
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Mondoweiss:
"According to statistics from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Centre for Studies, Israeli forces arrested 450 Palestinians in August including 69 children. The numbers were posted on the Facebook page of Riad Al-Ashqar, a spokesperson for the group. ...
There’s a number of proposed bills connected to Israel/Palestine that lawmakers are hoping to move forward and one of them is H.R. 2407–the Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. The legislation, which was introduced by Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum in April, would amend the Foreign Assistance Act to block funding for the military detention of children in other countries, including Israel."
-->The NYT likes stories about children put into detention centers and deprived of their rights. But in true PEP tradition (progressive except for Palestine), our newspaper of record did not cover this story.
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Common Dreams:
"Unaffordable Health and Child Care Alongside Flimsy Safety Net Leaves US Among Most Unlivable Nations: Global Survey. According to expats living in 187 countries, the U.S. is among the least safe and affordable countries in the world.
A new global survey finds that expats living in the U.S. aren't able to enjoy life in the world's wealthiest country because of many of the same factors that cause anxiety among Americans: high healthcare and child care costs and a general lack of social welfare programs. ...
Compared to the highest-ranking countries, including Taiwan, Vietnam, and Portugal, the U.S. was found to be less safe, less affordable, and less politically stable. Many expats in the U.S. described a living experience marked by financial precariousness, fears for safety, and the knowledge that the U.S. government would do little to support them in the event of an emergency."
-->The US media doesn't like to run stories like this. The NYT avoided printing the survey, although the NY Daily News and a scattering other of US news media did. Is the NYT protecting the image of the US abroad, or simply hiding the effects of our corporate run, Neoliberal state?
