Facebook faces accusation of facilitating Israel invasion

GLOBAL INSECURITY

$1 billion damages sought for alleged death threats

By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WorldNetDaily

Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, has announced that he has launched a lawsuit against Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, for allegedly facilitating jihad against Israel.

It seeks damages of up to $1 billion.

WND reported earlier this week on strategies that were being developed on Facebook pages for thousands of people worldwide to "return" to the original homes of their families in "Palestine" on May 15.

It was explained in an in-depth report by L. Barkan, a research fellow at the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and analyzes media reports throughout the Middle East. He reported the idea was being circulated "for millions of Palestinian refugees to march en masse in return to the original homes of their families in Israel."

The movement's plans call for this to be much more than just a visit, however.

See how radical Islam is threatening "The Third Jihad!"

"All the families of Jewish settlers in the Galilee area, including in the areas of Safed, Tiberias, and all the way down to Acre, must proceed to the port of Haifa and board ships back to their countries of origin in Europe," explained one posting that is part of the campaign.

Now Klayman, who explains he is of Jewish descent, said the campaign also has included "Third Intifada" pages "which threatened Jews in particular with death," which has made him a "target of this call to kill Jews."

"Over the course of the last week, defendants were asked to take this Third Intifada and related sites down, but refused," he told WND in a statement. "Only in the last few days did they do so, after increased pressure was exerted by the Israeli government.

"However, the damage had already been done and it is believed that this and other pages will soon reappear on Facebook" Klayman alleged.


The complaint alleges assault and negligence, including willful and wanton conduct, gross negligence and recklessness, "as it has put Mr. Klayman's life at risk."

"While Facebook has accomplished a lot of good, it can, as in this instance, be used for nefarious and evil purposes. Defendants Zuckerberg's and Facebook's callous and greedy actions in not taking down the page, but willfully allowing it to stay up for many days, has caused huge damage, for which they must be held accountable, so as to prevent this from ever happening again. They must be not only enjoined but also hit in their purse, which is where they understand matters best," said the statement from Klayman.

WND submitted an email request to Facebook for a comment, but did not get a response.

According to the complaint, prepared for the District of Columbia civil division, "Plaintiff has encountered the Facebook page titled 'Third Palestinian Intifada' … This Intifada FB Page at all material times calls, and called for an uprising beginning on May 15, 2011, after Muslim prayers are completed, announcing and threatening that 'Judgment Day will be brought upon us only Once Muslims have killed all the Jews.'"

It explains, "This Intifada FB Page has had over 360,000 participants. According to reports, three similar FB Intifada pages have come up with over 7,000 subscribers. In the last days, the Public Diplomacy Minister of Israel, Yuli Edelstein, accurately stated in a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that the Intifada FB Page featured 'wild incitement' with [a] call to kill Jews and talk of liberating Jerusalem through violence. He asked that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook take down the page and similar and related pages, but defendants refused, obviously to boost Facebook's circulation and revenues, as this page created enormous controversy and thus viewership. It also resulted in Facebook adding large amount of additional users to its site, particularly in the Middle East and elsewhere."

The claim states, "Thus, the Intifada FB Page, and related and similar pages on Facebook openly advocate an intifada against and thus death to persons of Jewish origin."

The lawsuit explains two previous "intifadas" against Jews, one in 1987-1993, which resulted in the "civilian death toll of 164 Jews."

"The second occurred between 2000 and 2005 and resulted in the civilian death toll of 1,115 Jews," the complaint cites.

Klayman, a "public interest human, civil and individual rights activist," has been active in matters "concerning the security of Israel and all people," the case explains.

For example, he recently went to court over the issue of an Islamic mosque being constructed on one of the sites where wreckage from the jets used in the 9/11 terror attack in New York fell.

"In response, the imam of this mosque, Imam Feisal Rauf, effectively issued a fatwa against Mr. Klayman and his client, Vincent Forras, a famous and brave first responder who was buried under the rubble at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001," the complaint alleges.

"Given the violent history of intifadas …. the Intifada Facebook Page and other related and similar sites have caused plaintiff reasonable apprehension of severe bodily harm and/or death," it claims.

WND reported this week on the use of Facebook for the May 15 events. The MEMRI report documented how the social networking site pages provided instructions for others now in Israel to report to other ports – all by the middle of March, a deadline long past, for departure.

"The message also warned that anyone trying to take 'archeological artifacts [or anything belonging] to the Palestinian heritage, even a single ball of falafel, will be pursued and arrested by Interpol in his new place of residence,'" the MEMRI report said.

According to MEMRI, some of the Facebook pages "stress that the activities are meant to be peaceful and unarmed, while others hint at violence and armed resistance."

"It also has gained the support of Palestinian officials, through the PLO Department of Expatriate Affairs … which has called on Palestinians living abroad to participate in the march and to publicize it among the Palestinian communities and organizations worldwide," the MEMRI report said.

Timetables to coordinate the events have been posted by administrators who explain it is the moral and legal right of refugees to return to their homes.

One page, "The 2011 March of Return," said, "The goal of [the Facebook] group … is to organize a march of millions, who, on May 15, 2011, will realize the Right of Return to Palestine in deed as well as in word."

It explains marchers will come from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

"The Right of Return is a legal, political, human, moral, and religious right that is irrevocable and unlimited in time, and all must work toward realizing it. We call for the realization of this right through the mass return of millions of Palestinians to historical Palestine, such that every refugee and displaced person will return to his land and to the home from which he was expelled. This will be the first step toward implementing … Resolution 194, which will be followed by further steps, such as awarding reparations to the returned refugees and recognizing heir rights," the site advocates.

MEMRI documents that a page titled, "The Palestinian Refugees' Revolution (The Advance of the Millions)," warned, "We will reach out our hand and build a bridge that will bring us to our green land, to our territorial waters, to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, to our desert ... to the beautiful Galilee, to Jerusalem, our proud capital, to the neighborhoods of Nablus, Ramallah, and Jenin, to the hills of Lod and Ramla, and to all the [other] places ... We will return, and soon. Long live our cause. May the state of the sons of Zion fall."

Also, on the page called "The Third Palestinian Intifada" was the warning there could be violence.

"After the Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan intifadas, the time has come for the Palestinian intifada. The first Palestinian intifada was in 1987 and the second in 2000, but the third Palestinian intifada [will commence] on May 15, 2011," it said, according to MEMRI's documentation.

"It should be noted that, while urging the public to join the mass demonstrations on May 15, the page administrators also hinted at a coming war on the Jews and called on the readers to prepare for martyrdom," Barkan's report confirmed.

"For example, they posted a well-known hadith, which states that the Day of Judgment will only come after the Muslims fight the Jews and vanquish them: 'The hour [of Judgment] will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.'"

Another message on the page states, "Paradise calls you. I ask everyone to come out on May 15. Do not say 'I can't.' For once [in your life], at least, do something to help the Muslims ... martyrdom calls you."

Another page posted the plans: "On Sunday, May 15, after the noon prayers, 'the holy advance will start and the Intifada will be ignited... On this day, all the returning [refugees] will set forth, and the Third Palestinian Intifada will commence, with the support of all the free people in the world.'"

The page lists the destinations of the march: In the West Bank, participants will march on the checkpoints and settlements; in Gaza, on the checkpoints and border crossings; within "the 1948 territories," toward cities and villages destroyed in the 1948 war; in Lebanon, toward Palestine by land and by sea; in Jordan, toward three areas on the border; in Syria, towards the Golan border; in Egypt, toward the Rafah border and toward the coast of Palestine by ship.

May 15 was picked, the pages explain, because it is the 63rd anniversary of the founding of Israel in 1948.

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