NGO gaslights by claiming pro-terror social media posts are 'censored'

Haifa-based NGO 7amleh is using gaslighting tactics to say that social media posts are being censored if they are in the Arabic language, specifically posts that are pro-terror and show support for the October 7 Hamas massacre, watchdog NGO Monitor has reported.

7amleh—The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media calls itself a “non-profit organization that advocates for Palestinian digital rights.” It has continually run large-scale political campaigns alleging social media platforms censor Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices, particularly when they write in Arabic. 

(7amleh is pronounced "Ḥamleh," because in informal Arabic writing, 7 represents the Arabic letter "ha," according to an NGO Monitor report discussing the Palestinian social media advocacy group. Having been founded in 2013, the "7" in its name was therefore not intended to relate to the date of the massacre.)

In 2021, 7amleh operated with a NIS 4.4 million ($1.15 m.) budget, which receives funding from governments and entities within the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Germany,  and Canada. They also receive funding from the Open Society Foundation and UNICEF, according to NGO Monitor's report.

You cannot maintain a brutal ethnic-supremacist regime by way of genocide, and expect everything to stay rosy. Stupid that we had to reach this stage in the first place. The human cost of decades of impunity is heavy on us all.

— Jalal (@JalalAK_jojo) November 2, 2023

NGO Monitor found that despite 7amleh's "trusted partner" status by Meta, posts against Israel and support for violence are inconsistent with the given status. The NGO watchdog found that post-October 7, the organization followed suit in pro-Gaza campaigns, asking Meta to abandon its content moderation criteria regarding posts promoting terrorism.

Employees of the organization have also reportedly posted offensive posts in the same vein.

How is 7amleh 'gaslighting' and trying to erase proof of online Palestinian terror incitement?

On November 1, the organization published a briefing on Palestinian digital rights since October 7, claiming that Palestinian voices were censored across many different social platforms. The organization wrote of “significant and disproportionate censorship of Palestinian voices, which severely restricts freedom of expression and access to information, more direly so with journalists and human rights defenders. This is compounded by the one-sided and context-lacking portrayal of the region’s situation by mainstream media.” 

According to the report, the organization's analysis ignores the correlation between Arab-language and Palestinian incitement and its connection to antisemitic content. They claim that anything critical of the Israeli government or any form of solidarity with Gaza is immediately censored.

The report states that the organization's approach is essentially gaslighting by denying that Jews and Israelis are finding themselves the targets of vicious online antisemitism and violent threats from alleged "Palestinian voices." This includes comments far beyond "Free Palestine," harassment, and antisemitic rhetoric.

NGO Monitor cited finding celebratory posts from Palestinian Arabic-language ones on Facebook specifically praising the October 7 massacre, which ultimately contradicts the claims made by 7amleh.

The organization fails to define "censorship" consistently after complaining that there were “283 censorship violations on Meta’s Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp... mainly Restrictions and Content Takedown... [and] cases where pages were completely taken down and users were suspended and not allowed to appeal,” according to the report, without connecting the claims to that of Meta police.

7amleh also states that “numerous cases have emerged where individuals have been apprehended [by Israel] simply for expressing their views or opinions on various digital platforms,” leading to the arrest and interrogation of Palestinians for their social media usage. Though Palestinian rights activist Ahed Tamimi was arrested Monday morning by the IDF, no mention of the initial social media posting that allegedly got her arrested—nor her alleged history of calls for violence against Jews and IDF personnel—has been communicated by the NGO.