YouTube censors pro-Israel videos for violating “violent criminal organizations” policy
Honest Reporting is an NGO that monitors anti-Israel bias in the media. It was therefore surprising when the watchdog was censored by YouTube. CEO Daniel Pomerantz was invited by RT (formerly Russia Today) to provide an analysis on the current hostilities between Israel and Gaza. In the interview, Pomerantz dispelled disinformation that had been spread on mainstream media claiming that the IDF had launched a ground incursion into Gaza. Pomerantz accused journalists of “running with the story that they want to tell.”
“Another thing they want to believe is that Israel is killing Palestinians,” Pomerantz said. “That’s patently false. Hamas is killing Palestinians. They fired 3,000 rockets at Israel but one-third of their rockets land right inside Gaza. On the first day, it was confirmed that 17 people including three children were killed by Hamas rockets. The figures Hamas gives to the press, they have never given one shred of proof that any of those deaths were the results of Israeli strikes. The press should be asking those questions.”
“The international press has an obligation to push Hamas to say who is actually causing these casualties. If it is Hamas, we have to hold them to account or else they will do it again.”
Pomerantz emphasized that all of the information coming out of Gaza came from sources controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization. He also explained that the IDF almost always warned residents of an impending attack. He noted that if a residential structure collapsed, it was usually due to the collapse of a terrorist tunnel underneath the building.
“Anyone who is truly pro-Palestinian, and I believe that most Israelis like myself are, you need to hold Palestinian leadership to account so that they can have a better life,” Pomerantz said.
After the video was posted, Honest Reporting received a notice from Facebook that it had been removed from YouTube for violating their Community Guideline.
The video has since been reinstated but Honest Reporting is not the only pro-Israel voice silenced. Sky News Australia anchor Rowan Dean produced a television segment (same requirements as outlined above to access) in which he suggested that, “everything people need to know about the history and future of the current conflict in Gaza and Israel can be condensed into a single photo.” He then posted a now-famous photo of a night sky lit up by Hamas rockets flying towards Israel facing off against twisted trails of Iron Dome rockets waiting to deflect them.
Dean described the “deadly rockets being fired out of Gaza in an aggressive deliberately offensive act of war designed to kill and maim as many innocent everyday Israelis as possible.”
Dean noted that the rockets were provided by Iran, an arrangement that was greatly aided by the Biden and Obama administration.
Dean described the Iron Dome as “purely defensive…designed to save citizens’ lives.”
The segment was flagged by YouTube as it was deemed potentially “inappropriate or offensive.”
YouTube displayed its bias yet again this week when George Mason University law professor Eugene Kontorovich posted a video on RT discussing the legal status of Israeli strikes in Gaza.
YouTube removed the video, claiming it violated their “violent criminal organizations” policy, which YouTube typically invokes to take down terrorist hostage or recruitment videos.
“YouTube is obviously in thrall to the most extreme anti-Israel actors who want to silence academic discussion of international law in relation to Israel’s actions, so that the blood libels will not be refuted,” Kontorovich told The Washington Free Beacon. But when the Free Beacon reached out to them, YouTube revised their story, claiming the video had triggered their “automated systems.”
“As part of our response to COVID-19, we are temporarily relying more on technology to help with some of the work normally done by reviewers. In this case, automated systems removed content that did not violate our policies, and we worked to quickly reinstate it,” YouTube told the Free Beacon.
Again, the video was restored.
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