In a tweet slamming the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei singled out Jared Kushner as “the Jewish member of Trump’s family.”

“The nation of Palestine is under various, severe pressures,” Khamenei bemoaned. “Then, the UAE acts in agreement with the Israelis and filthy Zionist agents of the US — such as the Jewish member of Trump’s family — with utmost cruelty against the interests of the World of Islam.”

“The UAE betrayed the world of Islam, the Arab nations, the region’s countries, and Palestine. Of course, this betrayal won’t last long,” Khamenei threatened.

The nation of Palestine is under various, severe pressures. Then, the UAE acts in agreement with the Israelis & filthy Zionist agents of the U.S. —such as the Jewish member of Trump’s family— with utmost cruelty against the interests of the World of Islam.#UAEStabsMuslims

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 1, 2020

“The UAE rulers opened the door of the region to the Zionists, and they have ignored and normalized the question of Palestine, which is a question about the usurpation of a country. This stigma will remain on them.”

Despite the fact that Twitter regularly flags the tweets of US President Donald Trump, it completely ignores tweets by Khameini calling for the destruction of Israel and actually admitted that his tweets don’t violate its policy.

At a Knesset hearing on anti-Semitism on social media in late July, international human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky questioned Ylwa Petterson, the head of Twitter policy for the Nordics and Israel, who participated in the hearing via videoconference. “Why are you flagging Trump’s tweets but you haven’t flagged Khamenei, who has literally called for the genocide of Israel and the Jewish people?”

“So, we have an approach to world leaders that presently says that direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy saber-rattling on military-economic issues are generally not in violation of our Twitter rules,” Petterson responded.

MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh (Blue and White), who headed the hearing, responded: “Calling for genocide on Twitter is okay, but commenting on politics is not?”

“If a world leader violates our rules but there is a clear interest in keeping that up on the service, we may place it behind a notice that provides some more context about the violation and allows people to click through if they wish to see that type of content,” Pettersson responded.

“I think what’s come up again and again through different examples is a sense of double standards and I would implore Twitter and other online platforms to ensure – and I think that’s your responsibility and you have to be held to account for that – that there is no double standard,” Wunsh asserted.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)