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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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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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