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Meta Updates Moderation Policy for Word ‘Zionist’ Used in Hate Speech Targeting Jews, Israelis
Meta logo is seen in this illustration taken August 22, 2022. Photo: Reuters
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced on Tuesday an update to its moderation policy regarding posts that use the word “Zionists” as a proxy to target Jews or Israelis in hate speech.
Meta said it will now remove posts that use “Zionists” to refer to Jews and Israelis in harmful and derogatory ways.
“We recognize there is nothing approaching a global consensus on what people mean when they use the term ‘Zionist,’” Meta explained. “However, based on our research, engagement, and on-platform investigation into its use as a proxy term for Jewish people and Israelis in relation to certain types of hateful attacks, we will now remove content that targets ‘Zionists’ with dehumanizing comparisons, calls for harm, or denials of existence on the basis that ‘Zionist’ in those instances often appears to be a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people.”
Meta said it made its decision after consulting with 145 external experts “representing civil society and academia across the Middle East and Africa, Israel, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.” They included political scientists, historians, legal scholars, digital and civil rights groups, freedom of expression advocates, and human rights experts.
Meta’s longstanding policy has been to remove posts that attack people based on protected characteristics such as nationality, race, and religion. Political affiliations and ideologies are not among those protected characteristics. Meta also previously only considered the word “Zionist” as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people in very specific cases, such as when Zionists are compared to rats, which is a common antisemitic trope.
“Going forward, we will remove content attacking ‘Zionists’ when it is not explicitly about the political movement, but instead uses antisemitic stereotypes, or threatens other types of harm through intimidation, or violence directed against Jews or Israelis under the guise of attacking Zionists,” Meta said.
The policy update will be implemented on Facebook and Instagram, and comes nine months after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, where 1,200 people were murdered and approximately 250 were taken as hostages. Since the onslaught, antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed to record highs in several countries around the world, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In many cases, anti-Israel activists have threatened “Zionists,” calling for their expulsion from the community and even for their death.
The Israeli tech nonprofit organization CyberWell, which uses artificial intelligence and open source intelligence tools to track antisemitism and Holocaust denial on social media platforms, submitted data-focused analysis to Meta regarding the use of “Zionist” as a replacement for “Jew” that helped Meta examine the issue before it announced its updated policy on Tuesday. The antisemitism watchdog group thanked Meta for its updated policy and for recognizing that attacking Zionists “is akin to attacking ‘Jews.’”
“The use of the term ‘Zionist; to spread antisemitic vitriol while avoiding detection has been used by radicals on the far left and extremists on the far right. Today, Meta has spoken through thoughtful action,” said CyberWell founder and executive director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor. “By acknowledging the phobic nature of when abuse of the term ‘Zionist’ is meant to spread bigotry and fear, they are actively protecting a targeted minority group of users on their platform that are currently experiencing the worst wave of targeted hate since the Holocaust. We are thankful to our partners at Meta for taking this step, and we hope that other platforms follow suit. With clear policy, safer digital spaces for everyone are possible.”
Meta said it has examined issues surrounding the term “Zionists” for years, including recently in March at its policy forum, a meeting that takes place on a regular basis where Meta team members from various departments discuss potential changes to its community standards, community guidelines, and advertising standards.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) – which recently launched the Institute for Technology and Human Rights to address online antisemitism – applauded Meta’s decision, saying that after “years of advocacy by the WJC, its affiliated Jewish communities, and other organizations,” the move “marks a significant step in combating the veiled antisemitism that has proliferated under the guise of political discourse and has skyrocketed since Oct. 7.”
Meta’s decision is a “much-needed advancement in our ongoing fight against online antisemitism and hatred,” WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said in a statement. “By recognizing and addressing the misuse of the term ‘Zionist,’ Meta is taking a bold stand against those who seek to mask their hatred of Jews. We appreciate that Meta has truly listened to the voices of Jewish communities that we work with. This policy change will help create a safer, more respectful online environment for everyone. I hope all other platforms will follow Meta’s leadership and take similar action.”
The updated policy was also praised by a number of other Jewish organizations, including StopAntisemitism, the Campaign Against Antisemitism, the European Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs said, “As we’ve seen over the last nine months, hatred against Jews takes many forms, and this update in Meta’s Hate Speech policy shows what we’ve said all along: anti-Zionism IS antisemitism.”
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Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, following the results of the election, in London, Britain, July 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
i24 News – The United States has warned the UK and France not to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference scheduled for June 17 in New York, the Middle East Eye reported Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-host this conference on the two-state solution, with Paris reportedly preparing to unilaterally recognize Palestine. France is also pressuring London to follow this path, according to sources from the British Foreign Office.
French media reports indicate that French authorities believe they have the agreement of the British government. Meanwhile, Arab states are encouraging this move, measuring the success of the conference by the recognitions obtained.
This initiative deeply divides Western allies. If France and the UK were to carry out this recognition, they would become the first G7 nations to take this step, causing a “political earthquake” according to observers, given their historical ties with Israel. The Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer threatened last week to annex parts of the West Bank if this recognition took place, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary David Lammy publicly opposes unilateral recognition, stating that London would only recognize a Palestinian state when we know that it is going to happen and that it is in view.
However, pressure is mounting within the Labour Party. MP Uma Kumaran, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the government was elected on a platform that promised to recognize Palestine as a step towards a just and lasting peace. Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, believes that there is no legitimate reason for the United States to interfere in a sovereign decision of recognition, while highlighting the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump on this issue.
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Police, Shin Bet Thwart Suspected Iranian Attempt Perpetrate Terror Attack

A small number of Jewish worshipers pray during the priestly blessing, a traditional prayer which usually attracts thousands of worshipers at the Western Wall on the holiday of Passover during 2020, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 12, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.
i24 News – The Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police thwarted another Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis, according to a statement on Tuesday, arresting a resident of East Jerusalem for allegedly carrying out missions for the Islamic Republic.
Iranian agents recruited the suspect, who in turn recruited members of his family. He is a resident of the Isawiya neighborhood in his 30s, and is accused of maintaining contact with a hostile foreign entity to harm the state by carrying out a terrorist attack against Jews.
The suspect had already begun perpetrating acts of sabotage and espionage, including collecting intelligence about areas in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market. He also hung signs, burned Israeli army uniforms, and more in exchange for payment totaling thousands of shekels.
He was also charged with planning a terror attack in central Israel, including setting fire to a forest, and was told to transfer weapons to terrorist elements in the West Bank.
The suspect’s sought the help of family members, including his mother. A search at his home revealed sums of cash, a spray can used in some of his activities, airsoft guns, suspected illegal drugs, and more.
His indictment is expected to be filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The statement said that the case is yet another example of Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis. “We will continue to coordinate efforts to thwart terrorism and terrorist elements, including those operating outside Israel, while attempting to mobilize local elements in order to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Shin Bet and Police said.
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Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds a chart showing the development of antisemitic crime, during a press conference on Figures for Politically Motivated Crime in the Country, in Berlin, Germany, May 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Cybercrime in Germany rose to a record level last year, driven by hacker attacks from pro-Russian and anti-Israeli groups, the BKA Federal Crime Office reported on Tuesday as the government said it would boost countermeasures to combat it.
“Cybercrime is an increasing threat to our security,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. “It is getting more aggressive but our counter-strategies are also becoming more professional,” he said.
Some 131,391 cases of cybercrime took place in Germany last year and a further 201,877 cases were committed from abroad or an unknown location, a BKA report said.
The actors behind the hacker attacks on German targets were primarily either pro-Russian or anti-Israeli, said the BKA, adding targets were mostly public and federal institutions.
Ransomware, when criminals copy and encrypt data, is one of the main threats, said the BKA, with 950 companies and institutes reporting cases in 2024.
German digital association Bitkom said damage caused by cyberattacks here totaled 178.6 billion euros ($203.87 billion) last year, some 30.4 billion euros more than in the previous year.
Dobrindt said the government planned to extend the legal capabilities authorities could use to combat cybercrime and set higher security standards for companies.
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