With days until elections for the 21st Knesset, on Tuesday, April 7, 2019, Facebook blocked the Facebook page of the candidate on the United Right-Wing lineup, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

According to Facebook, the reason for blocking the page is the upload an old post by Ben Gvir from the beginning of the election period, in which Jewish leaders are seen alongside the caption “1,000 dead terrorists – and not one hair of an IDF soldier will fall.”

Following the closure, Ben-Gvir announced that he would appeal to the Elections Committee urgently. “There is no doubt that this blockage is done on the grounds that I am ideologically right-wing, and because Facebook is a social network with an extreme left-wing agenda,” he said.

“We cannot let this situation continue, and Facebook cannot shut up the right-wingers, while Facebook does nothing against terrorists,” he added. “We submitted an urgent petition to the chairman of the Elections Committee, Judge Hanan Meltzer, against Facebook’s scandalous decision, and at the same time a warning letter will be sent to Facebook demanding millions of shekels.”

Central Election Committee Chairman Justice Chanan Meltzer on Thursday responded to Ben-Gvir’s request, in Ben-Gvir cited “Facebook’s conduct is, in practice, foreign intervention in elections that were so feared in Israel. For months, the security branches of the State of Israel have been alerted against foreign interference in the elections, and now Facebook has come and is intervening heavily in the elections in the State of Israel.”

KAN Reshet Bet Radio reported that in response to Facebook shutting Ben-Gvir’s page down, he is demanding NIS 250,000 in compensation.

After Justice Meltzer received the urgent request from Ben-Gvir, he turned to Facebook’s representative in Israel for a response by 5:00 PM, referring to Ben-Gvir as “the attorney from Otzma”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)