Today is one of my favorite holidays.  Yes, we Jews have a slew of holidays. And, given we’ve just survived Snowzilla2016, thinking about this holiday really feels a bit bizarre.

The holiday is Tu B’Shvat.  The 15^th day of the month of Shvat.  The New Year for Trees.  (There are plenty of rules in my religion that cover the need to take care of the earth- from letting fields lie fallow every seven years, to praying for rain and dew, to this day- where the tradition is to plant a tree.)

I recall with fondness planting trees in Israel with my kids, even planting trees to beautify the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (this included the participation of some 30 area kids).  Sure, it was cold in Charlottesville when we planted those trees, but the kids did learn about the need to take care of their environment.

But, this holiday is just a segue into my post today.  For those of you who fit the rule “don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up”, this would be a good time to stop reading my blog today.  Because I tried to try to hold my virtual tongue (i.e., my pen and keyboard).   But, I doubt you will consider my results highly successful nor will I be politically correct.  (I will be correct- but I’ll not worry about meeting some bogus beliefs someone may hold.)

First, you should know that I am not a fan of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel.  Or his party.  But, I am fed up with the way folks (for example that means the United Methodist Church, United Christian Church, and a slew of others) have decided that the Fox News bull…. about being fair and balanced absolves them from being fair and balanced.  It seems that this includes Facebook, as well.

Let’s start with a few facts.   Oh, and you should know these were determined by Palestinian researchers in what should be Palestine.  (Yes, I believe that the West Bank- the portion of land that had been usurped and run, under much worse conditions for decades, by Jordan with nary a complaint- should be separate from the land of Israel.  For many reasons.)

Dr. Khalil Shikaki recently polled Palestinian adults.  And, found that 67% of those polled think it’s perfectly acceptable to stab Israelis.  Just because they are Israelis.  And, 66% think that an intifada (which is simply terrorism against Israelis, not an insurrection) serves their interests.

Here’s another fact.  The Palestinian Authority elected to arrest a well-respected journalist, Salim Sweidan on 7 January 2016.  His crime?  He reported that the Palestinian Authority security services helped Israel find and arrest members of a (Hamas) terrorist cell.  The charge?  “[S]landering public authorities, making up and publishing false news, violating Palestinian press laws”- plus “publishing material inciting hatred and violence, and publishing material that can harm national unity”.   That sure endows me with a sense of their integrity.

And, the US (and most European nations) know that social media is being used to foment terrorist acts.  And, as such, they are working to find ways to counteract this “radicalization” of civilians.  (This their vocabulary, not mine.)   Last time I checked, Facebook (FB) is one such social media platform.

Which brings the following experiment to mind.  On 28 December 2015, Shurat HaDin (the Israeli Law Center) performed what it termed “The Big Facebook Experiment”.

What was the test?  Post two Facebook pages.  One stating “Revenge against the Jewish enemy” and “Death to all the Jews”.   The other stating (note the similarity) “Revenge against the Arab enemy” and “Death to all the Arabs”.  After that ausipicisous start, they began loading new and  similar graphics on both pages– a young girl getting ready to punch an Israeli soldier with the caption “these children will liberate Palestine with blood” countered with an Israeli soldier wielding a gun, vowing to battle all Arabs.   (The idea was to show continued use of the site and get both of them more noticed.  All part of the experiment.)

So far, so bad, right?   A pox on both those pages.  But, that was NOT the test.

On 30 December, Shurat HaDin used the “button-click” reporting mechanism that FB has to complain the pages were violating FB standards. And, within 24 hours, the anti-Palestine page was shut down. (They notified Shurat HaDin of that fact).  After all, it contained a “credible threat of violence” and had “violated our [FB’s] community standards.”   As such, it was gone forever.  Makes sense, right?  Of course it does.

But…

That Anti-Israel page? Nope.  Shurat HaDin was informed that the page was “not in violation of Facebook’s rules.”.

Oh.  There’s more.  How about Facebook NOT removing pages from at least 10 folks who requested people to kill Jews.  Why am I picking on just 10 people and these specifically?  Because each of these 10 folks were employees of the UN- in particular, one of two specifically biased groups against Israel that operate under the auspices of the UN- the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA).  This is the agency that lets its hospitals and schools be used as staging bases for terrorists and bomb caches to be used against Israel and its citizenry.

That’s what’s wrong with social media (and those churches, among others).  Because they consider it acceptable to promise to kill Jews and destroy Israel.  To the exclusion of all other biases.

 

(Yes, I admit when FB found out that this test was being broadcast about its bias, it changed its tune.  A dollar short- and more than a day late, I might add.  Claiming (pure, adulterated BS) that “Facebook does not tolerate hate speech, including against people on the basis of their nationality. We review all reports and take down such content. Both these pages have now been removed from Facebook.”   Like when your BS is made public and you try to cover it up makes you a good guy.  Nope. It still stinks.)

 

By the way, please consider planting a tree today- in Israel or in the West Bank.  You can also elect to offset your personal carbon footprint (there’s a calculator) by choosing the proper “green” action today to celebrate the New Year for Trees!