Facebook caution urged~warning for Australian Jews

[Tina Greco - Melbourne]

Facebook caution urged

ASHLEY BROWNE

JEWISH groups have been urged not to publicise their functions on social networking websites because of fears over security.

This comes following a report in last week’s The Australian that a death threat was made against a Jewish woman from Melbourne on Facebook, by someone purporting to be from Hezbollah, after the woman knocked back a “friend request”.

While further investigations demonstrated that the Hezbollah member was, in fact, a 16-year-old from Lebanon with no real links to the terror group, Gavin Queit from the Community Security Group (CSG) has called on Jewish groups to be less forthcoming with their publicity on Facebook.

“They open themselves up to anyone who goes looking,” Queit said. “There’s all sorts of rubbish out there and this only encourages that sort of stuff to happen.”

According to Queit, a Facebook group called the Jews of Melbourne recently advertised a function, with those wishing to attend having to reply on the website.

A routine check of the guest list by the CSG indicated that someone with a criminal record for violence had registered to attend the function.

“When it comes to Facebook, Jewish groups need to be really careful about the details they give out and what exactly they want to advertise,” Queit said.

Typing “Jewish Melbourne” into the search facility on Facebook reveals 44 groups and more than 500 people.

The young woman threatened  declined to be interviewed by The AJN.