“According to Facebook, our picture of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir would lead to a ‘genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety,'”

Facebook has reportedly removed an image of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir from a pro-Israel group’s page, claiming it violated community standards, but it has yet to do anything about the many anti-Semitic and anti-“Zionist” images posted on the global social network.

The now-deleted image featured a quote normally attributed to the former prime minister, which says, “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

HonestReporting, which tracks anti-Israel bias in media, reportedly uploaded the image of Meir to its Facebook page last year at the beginning of the Gaza conflict:

However, Facebook’s moderators have since deleted the image, explaining that the picture and attached quote violated the social network’s community standards, HonestReporting’s Yarden Frankl reported this week.

“According to Facebook, our picture of Golda Meir would lead to a ‘genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety,'” he wrote.

It does not appear, however, that Facebook’s moderators apply this standard uniformly.

A search of the network shows that multiple anti-Semitic and anti-“Zionist” groups, including “Death to America and Israel,” “Zionism is Terrorism and Therefore Must End” and “Death to zionism,” are still up and running.

Along with calling for the an end to Israel and “Zionism,” these same groups are also engaged in the active distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda, most of it in the form of crude political cartoons.

This isn’t the first time that critics have questioned Facebook’s judgment when it comes to its enforcement of community standards.

In 2014, Facebook responded to inquiries regarding a page titled “Death to Zionst baby killer israeli jews,” which has since been removed, by explaining that calls to exterminate the Jews are not in violation of its community standards.

A Facebook spokesperson also said at the time that calls for the death of Israel aren’t technically “hate speech,” because Israel is just a country.

“Language attacking a country is not considered hate speech in our community standards,” spokesman Matt Steinfeld told the Washington Examiner in an email.

He explained that Facebook’s “community standards detail our policy on hate speech, which is defined as direct attacks on people or groups based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition. This means that criticism of institutions (countries being a primary example, but it also includes topics of important social and political debate like government authorities, religions, etc.) is permitted.”

Steinfeld said at the time that a Facebook page like “Death to Israel and the Zionists” would fall into the approved category.

He added, however, that pages could be reported more than once and, “If the content devolves into direct attacks on people or groups, that would violate the hate speech policy.”

“[T]he number of reports does not have an impact on whether something violates our policies or whether it’s removed,” he said.

On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg responded to fears of growing “Islamophobia” following an Islamic terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., by declaring he stands in solidarity with Muslims all around the world.

“I want to add my voice in support of Muslims in our community and around the world. After the Paris attacks and hate this week, I can only imagine the fear Muslims feel that they will be persecuted for the actions of others. As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities,” he said in a statement on Facebook.

“Even if an attack isn’t against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone. If you’re a Muslim in this community, as the leader of Facebook I want you to know that you are always welcome here and that we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you. Having a child has given us so much hope, but the hate of some can make it easy to succumb to cynicism. We must not lose hope. As long as we stand together and see the good in each other, we can build a better world for all people,” he added.

Spokespersons for Facebook did not respond to the Examiner’s multiple requests for comment regarding the removal of HonestReporting’s picture of Golda Meir.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/facebook-censors-pro-israel-group-ignores-anti-semitic-groups/article/2578101